History of Liberia

Liberia is a country in West Africa. White Americans made the American Colonization Society and bought the land in 1822. They didn't want black people who were not slaves to be in the United States.[1] So they took some of them to Liberia. At the start of the American Civil War (in the 1860s) about 12,000 freed slaves lived there.

The name of the country means "Land of the Free" in Latin. Liberia gained its independence on July 26, 1847. Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the first president of Liberia. European states were quick to recognize Liberia as a state, but it took the US until 1862 to do so. Many of the black people who were sent to Liberia were missionaries.[2] Its official language today is English because of this history.

In the 1990s and in the early 2000s, two civil wars badly affected the country.

The country's constitution is similar to that of the United States. In the 2017 elections, George Weah became the twenty-fifth President of Liberia. The President before Weah was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first African female president.

In August 2021, spurred on by President George Weah who called for a roadmap, the Senate voted on a series of recommendations to finally turn the page on this war. It starts with the creation of a victims compensation fund.

References
  1. Blight, David W. (2001). Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England. p. 145. ISBN 0-674-00819-7.
  2. Smith, James D. (1996). "Liberia's Ugly Past (Part I)". The Perspective. Retrieved 2020-10-28.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.