History

The history of Liberia (after the arrival of Europeans) is unique in Africa as it started neither as a native state nor as a European colony, but began in 1821 when private societies began founding colonies for free blacks from the United States on the coast of West Africa.

Indigenous Peoples of West Africa

It is believed that many of the peoples of Liberia migrated there from the north and east between the 12th and 16th centuries AD. The area of West Africa which later became Liberia was invaded in the sixteenth century by Manes tribes from what is now the interior of Ivory Coast and Ghana. The Manes partitioned the conquered territories and their peoples among Manes leaders with one chieftain over all. The supreme chief resided in the Cape Mont region.

Shortly after the Manes conquered the region, there was a migration of the Vai people into the region of Cape Mont. The Vai were part of the Malian Empire that were forced to migrate when the Empire collapsed in the 14th century. The Vai chose to migrate to the coastal region.

The Kru tribes opposed the migration of the Vai into their region. An alliance of the Manes and Kru were able to stop the further migration of the Vai but the Vai remained in the Cape Mont region (where the city of Robersport is now located).

Contact with European Explorers and Traders

Portuguese explorers established contacts with the land later known as 'Liberia' as early as 1461 and named the area the Grain Coast because of the abundance of grains of malegueta pepper. In 1602, the Dutch established a trading port at Cape Mont but the Dutch destroyed these posts a year later. In 1663, the British installed trading posts on the Grain Coast. No further known settlements by non-African colonists occurred along the Grain Coast until the arrival of freed American slaves starting in 1817.

Settlers from America

The American Colonization Society established Liberia as a place to send freed African-Americans. Approximately 13,000 African-Americans emigrated to the colony and became known as Americo-Liberians, where many present day Liberians trace their ancestry.

The American Colonization Society closely controlled the development of Liberia until 1847. However, by the 1840s, the American Colonization Society was largely bankrupt, and the transported Liberians were demoralised by hostile local tribes, poor management and deadly diseases. The US government refused to claim sovereignty over the colony, so in 1846 the ACS demanded that Liberians declare their independence.

Independence

On July 26, 1847, the Americo-Liberian settlers declared the independence of the Republic of Liberia. The settlers regarded Africa as a 'Promised Land', but they did not integrate into an African society. Once in Africa, they referred to themselves as 'Americans' and were recognised as such by local Africans and by British colonial authorities in neighbouring Sierra Leone. The symbols of their state - its flag, motto, and seal - and the form of government that they chose reflected their American background and diaspora experience. Lincoln University (founded as Ashmun Institute in 1854) played an important role in supplying Americo-Liberians leadership for the new Nation. The first graduating class of Lincoln University, James R. Amos, his brother Thomas H. Amos and Armistead Miller sailed for Liberia on the brig Mary C. Stevens in April, 1859 after graduation.

The religious practices, social customs and cultural standards of the Americo-Liberians had their roots in the antebellum American South. These ideals strongly influenced the attitudes of the settlers toward the indigenous African people. The new nation, as they perceived it, was coextensive with the settler community and with those Africans who were assimilated into it. Mutual mistrust and hostility between the 'Americans' along the coast and the 'Natives' of the interior was a recurrent theme in the country's history, along with (usually successful) attempts by the Americo-Liberian minority to dominate people whom they considered uncivilised and inferior. They named the land 'Liberia', which in European languages, and in Latin in particular, means 'Land of the Free', as an homage to their freedom from slavery.

The founding of Liberia was privately sponsored by American religious and philanthropic groups, but the country enjoyed the support and unofficial cooperation of the United States government. Liberia's government, modelled after that of the United States, was democratic in structure, if not always in substance. After 1877, the True Whig Party monopolised political power in the country, and competition for office was usually contained within the party, whose nomination virtually ensured election.

Two problems confronting successive administrations were pressure from neighbouring colonial powers, Britain and France, and the threat of financial insolvency, both of which challenged the country's sovereignty. Liberia retained its independence during the Scramble for Africa, but lost its claim to extensive territories that were annexed by Britain and France. Economic development was slowed by the decline of markets for Liberian goods in the late nineteenth century and by indebtedness on a series of loans, payments on which drained the economy.

1980 Coup

In a late night raid on 12 April 1980, a successful military coup was staged by a group of non-commissioned Krahn officers led by Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe. William R. Tolbert, Jr. (the President of nine years) was executed in his mansion. Constituting themselves the People's Redemption Council, Doe and his associates seized control of the government and brought an end to Africa's first republic. Significantly, Doe was the first Liberian head of state who was not a member of the Americo-Liberian elite.

In the early 1980s, the United States provided Liberia more than $500 million for pushing the Soviet Union out of the country, and for providing the US exclusive rights to use Liberia's ports and land (including allowing the CIA to use Liberian territory to spy on Libya).

Doe favoured authoritarian policies, banning newspapers and outlawing various opposition parties. His tactic was to brand popular opposition parties as 'socialist', and therefore illegal according to the Liberian constitution, whilst allowing less popular minor parties to remain as a token opposition. Unfortunately for Doe, popular support would then tend to realign behind one of these smaller parties, causing them to be labeled 'socialist' in their turn.

In October 1985, Liberia held the first post-coup elections, ostensibly to legitimise Doe's regime. Virtually all international observers agreed that the Liberia Action Party (LAP) led by Jackson Doe (no relation) had won the election by a clear margin. After a week of counting the votes, however, Doe fired the count officials and replaced them with his own Special Election Committee (SECOM), which announced that Doe's ruling National Democratic Party of Liberia had won with 50.9% of the vote. In response, a counter-coup was launched on 12th November by Thomas Quiwonkpa, whose soldiers briefly occupied the Executive Mansion and the national radio station, with widespread support throughout the country. Three days later, Quiwonkpa's coup was overthrown. Following this failed coup, government repression intensified, as Doe's troops killed more than 2000 civilians and imprisoned more than 100 opposing politicians, including Jackson Doe, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and BBC journalist Isaac Bantu.

1989 and 1999 Civil Wars

In late 1989, a civil war began, and in September 1990 Doe was ousted and killed by the forces of faction leader Yormie Johnson and members of the Gio tribe. As a condition for the end of the conflict, interim president Amos Sawyer resigned in 1994, handing power to the Council of State. Prominent warlord Charles G. Taylor was elected as President in 1997, after leading a bloody insurgency backed by Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi.

Taylor's brutal regime targeted several leading opposition and political activists. In 1998, the government sought to assassinate child rights activist Kimmie Weeks for a report he had published on its involvement in the training of child soldiers, which forced him into exile.

Taylor's autocratic and dysfunctional government led to a new rebellion in 1999. More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the civil wars. The conflict intensified in mid-2003, and the fighting moved into Monrovia. As the power of the government shrank and with increasing international and American pressure for him to resign, President Charles G. Taylor accepted an asylum offer from Nigeria, but vowed: "God willing, I will be back." His statement was proved prophetic on March 29, 2006, when he was extradited from Nigeria. He is expected to face 17 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity before a United Nations tribunal holding proceedings in the Hague to address alleged crimes committed during the brutal civil war.

<Transitional Government</h2>

After the exile of Taylor, Gyude Bryant was appointed Chairman of the transitional government in late 2003. The primary task of the transitional government was to prepare for fair and peaceful democratic elections. With UN and ECOMOG troops safeguarding the peace, Liberia successfully conducted presidential elections in the autumn of 2005. Twenty three candidates stood for the October 11, 2005 general election, with the early favourite George Weah, internationally famous footballer, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Kru ethnic group expected to dominate the popular vote.

No candidate took the required majority in the general election, so a run-off between the top two vote getters, Weah and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, was necessary. The November 8, 2005 presidential runoff election was won decisively by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard-trained economist. Both the general election and runoff were marked by peace and order, with thousands of Liberians waiting patiently in the Liberian heat to cast their ballots.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Presidency

Daughter of the first indigenous Liberian to be elected to the national legislature, Jahmale Carney Johnson, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was born in rural Liberia. Widely celebrated for being the first elected female head of state in Africa, Johnson-Sirleaf's election focused much international attention on Liberia. A former Citibank and World Bank employee, Johnson-Sirleaf's career also includes heading the U.N. Development Programme for Africa.

Johnson-Sirleaf was jailed twice during the Doe administration before escaping into exile. As president, Johnson-Sirleaf hoped to bring her credentials as an economist to bear and enlist the help of the international community in rebuilding Liberia's economy and infrastructure.

In addition to focusing her early efforts to restore basic services such as water and electricity to the capital of Monrovia, Johnson-Sirleaf has established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address crimes committed during the later stages of Liberia's long civil war. She is also working to re-establish Liberia's food independence.