[105], The Central Bank of Liberia is responsible for printing and maintaining the Liberian dollar, Liberia's primary currency (the United States dollar is also legal tender in Liberia). The government has three co-equal branches of government: the executive, headed by the president; the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Legislature of Liberia; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and several lower courts. [103] This score represented a significant improvement since 2007, when the country scored 2.1 and ranked 150th of 180 countries. [68] Climate change in Liberia causes many problems as Liberia is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Open Location Code. Coauthor of. This discussion focuses on Liberia from the 19th century. "China and Liberia: Engagement in a Post-Conflict Country 20032013". Findings included government involvement in widespread "Forced or compulsory labour". [76], Endangered species are hunted for human consumption as bushmeat in Liberia. [87], Parallel to the administrative divisions of the country are the local and municipal divisions. [12] Americo-Liberians encouraged religious organizations to set up missions and schools to educate the indigenous peoples. The Liberian national basketball team has reached the AfroBasket twice, in 1983 and 2007. Liberia was the first African republic to proclaim its independence and is Africa's first and oldest modern republic. [83], Illegal logging has increased in Liberia since the end of the Second Civil War in 2003. Nicola Jones, Janice Cooper, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall and David Walker, June 2014; "The fallout of rape as a weapon of war", ODI; Pew Forum on Religious & Public life. The greatest amount of rainfall, 205 inches (5,200 mm), occurs at Cape Mount and diminishes inland to about 70 inches (1,800 mm) on the central plateau. Life expectancy in Liberia is estimated to be 64.4 years in 2020. The University of Liberia is the country's largest and oldest university. [108] Liberia is one of the world's poorest countries, with a formal employment rate of 15%. 2278117. [96], Rape and sexual assault are frequent in the post-conflict era in Liberia. [37] (The loser actually received around 60% of the eligible vote. [44] Government repression intensified in response, as Doe's troops retaliated by executing members of the Gio and Mano ethnic groups in Nimba County. August 9, 2012. Latosols of low to medium fertility occur in rolling hill country and cover about three-fourths of the total land surface. [23], The ACS, supported by prominent American politicians such as Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay, and James Monroe, believed "repatriation" was preferable to having emancipated slaves remain in the United States. Liberia forms part of the West African Shield, a rock formation 2.7 to 3.4 billion years old, composed of granite, schist, and gneiss. Stella Maris Polytechnic, a post-secondary, private institution of higher learning. Monrovia, capital, largest city, and chief Atlantic port of Liberia, located on Bushrod Island and Cape Mesurado. Liberia occupies an area of about 43,000 square miles and has a population of about 4,900,000 people. [35], In 1927, the country's elections again showed the power of the True Whig Party, with electoral proceedings that have been called some of the most rigged ever;[36] the winning candidate was declared to have received votes amounting to more than 15 times the number of eligible voters. Between 1461 and the late 17th century, Portuguese, Dutch, and British traders had contacts and trading posts in the region. The colonial settlements were raided by the Kru and Grebo, from their inland chiefdoms. Please select which sections you would like to print: Professor and Chairman, Department of History, University of Liberia, Monrovia. In Liberia, the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex serves as a multi-purpose stadium. [93], The Liberian National Police is the country's national police force. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. [175][176][177], Due to student protests late in October 2018, newly elected president George M. Weah abolished tuition fees for undergraduate students in the public universities in Liberia.[178]. [61] In October 2011, peace activist Leymah Gbowee received the Nobel Peace Prize in her work of leading a women's peace movement that brought to an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. [7], In 1822, the American Colonization Society began sending free people of color to the Pepper Coast voluntarily to establish a colony. For virtually all of its history, the AFL has received considerable material and training assistance from the United States. The 2000s saw an expansion of protected regions in Liberia, with new and enlarged wildlife reserves at Gola National Forest, the Wonegizi National Forest Reserve, and Lake Piso, and ecotourism was seen as a potential growth industry for the country. [56] Coeditor of. During World War II, Liberia supported the United States war effort against Germany, and in turn received considerable American investment in infrastructure, which aided the country's wealth and development. - 13488122 People along the coast built canoes and traded with other West Africans from Cap-Vert to the Gold Coast. [51] ", "Ellen Describes Tubman University's Opening As PRS Success", "Remarks by H.E. Liberia is a country in West Africa. [citation needed], The government of Liberia, modeled on the government of the United States, is a unitary constitutional republic and representative democracy as established by the Constitution. Minority ethnic groups especially were exploited in a system that enriched well-connected elites. [68], The highest point wholly within Liberia is Mount Wuteve at 4,724 feet (1,440m) above sea level in the northwestern Liberia range of the West Africa Mountains and the Guinea Highlands. Both Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast annexed territories. Encounters with tribal Africans in the bush often became violent. Liberia, country along the coast of western Africa. [200], According to an Overseas Development Institute report, private health expenditure accounts for 64.1% of total spending on health. [117], While official commodity exports declined during the 1990s as many investors fled the civil war, Liberia's wartime economy featured the exploitation of the region's diamond wealth. [82], Slash-and-burn agriculture is one of the human activities eroding Liberia's natural forests. Adolescent girls are the most frequently assaulted, and almost 40% of perpetrators are adult men known to victims. The all-female Sande society practices female circumcision. Global Powers and Africa Programme. [bettersourceneeded][1], English is the official language and serves as the lingua franca of Liberia. [110] Historically the Liberian economy has depended heavily on foreign aid, foreign direct investment and exports of natural resources such as iron ore, rubber, and timber. Rainfall is irregular, and the rainy season varies in intensity and begins earlier at the coast than in the interior. The Greater Monrovia District has 970,824 residents. The country enjoyed relative stability until a rebellion in 1989 escalated into a destructive civil war in the 1990s that did not fully cease until 2003. Category:Headlands of Liberia . The emerging chronometric record of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) indicates that core and flake technologies have been present in West Africa since at least the Chibanian (~780126 thousand years ago or ka) in northern, open Sahelian zones, and that they persisted until the Terminal Pleistocene/Holocene boundary (~12ka) in both northern and southern zones of West Africa. [97], Both male and female homosexuality are illegal in Liberia. The Portuguese named the area Costa da Pimenta ("Pepper Coast") but it later came to be known as the Grain Coast, due to the abundance of melegueta pepper grains. The countrys first post-conflict elections, held in 2005, were noteworthy for the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the presidency, as she was the first woman to be elected head of state in Africa. Official Name: Republic of Liberia Location: West Africa coast between Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cte d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean Population: 5,057,681 (as of 2020) Land Area: 43,000 square miles (111,369 square kilometres) Capital: Monrovia Official Language: English Form of Government: Unitary presidential constitutional republic Five years of military rule by the People's Redemption Council and five years of civilian rule by the National Democratic Party of Liberia were followed by the First and Second Liberian Civil Wars. [151][152][153] An additional 13 ultra-deep offshore blocks were demarcated in 2011 and planned for auction. [1] The country's education sector is hampered by inadequate schools and supplies, as well as a lack of qualified teachers. [173], In 2009, Tubman University in Harper, Maryland County was established as the second public university in Liberia. The climate, especially on the coast, is warm and humid year-round, dominated by a dry season from November to April and by a rainy season from May to October. It contains the Freeport of Monrovia, the major national port of Liberia and a variety of businesses. 15th-century Portuguese navigators named itfor the cavalla (or horse mackerel) found at its mouth. [26], By 1877, the True Whig Party was the country's most powerful political entity. [15], The record shows that aceramic and ceramic Later Stone Age (LSA) assemblages in West Africa overlap chronologically, and that changing densities of microlithic industries from the coast to the north are geographically structured. [1], The president serves as head of government, head of state, and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Liberia. The Cavalla is the longest river in the nation at 320 mi (515 km). Adventist University of West Africa, a post-secondary learning environment that is situated in Margibi County, on the Roberts International Airport. Liberia is an independent state that is situated in West Africa. It has a population of around 5 million and covers an area of 43,000 square miles (111,369km2). [34], Liberia remained neutral during World War I until August 4, 1917, upon declaring war on Germany. Liberia currently does not have any constitutional framework or uniform statutes which deal with the creation or revocation of local governments. The Farmington River is a source of hydroelectric power. [170] In some areas primary and secondary education is free and compulsory from the ages of 6 to 16, though enforcement of attendance is lax. This Island, as one of the global areas of human slave . [215], The Liberian government has begun transitioning away from use of United States customary units to the metric system. Finally, there is a mountainous highland region to the north hosting the country's highest point, the 1,440 m high Mount Wuteve, which has been marked on the map by an upright yellow triangle. The three countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast bound Liberia to the northwest, north, and east respectively. [161] Americo-Liberians, who are descendants of African American and West Indian, mostly Barbadian (Bajan) settlers, make up 2.5%. [47] From 1989 to 1997 around 60,000 to 80,000 Liberians died, and, by 1996, around 700,000 others had been displaced into refugee camps in neighboring countries. As observed on Liberia's physical map, the elevation of the land gradually increases with distance from the coast. [14], Undated Acheulean (ESA) artifacts are well documented across West Africa. Congo people, descendants of repatriated Congo and Afro-Caribbean slaves who arrived in 1825, make up an estimated 2.5%. Liberia has year-round evergreen vegetation. Under heavy pressure from the international community and the domestic Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement,[52] There is a high percentage of interracial marriage between ethnic Liberians and the Lebanese, resulting in a significant mixed-race population especially in and around Monrovia. As in other African countries, China is an important part of the post-conflict reconstruction. This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name. [115], Following a decrease in inflation beginning in 2003, inflation spiked in 2008 as a result of worldwide food and energy crises,[116] reaching 17.5% before declining to 7.4% in 2009. Liberia is divided into 15 counties which are subdivided into 90 and further into clans. Christopolis was renamed Monrovia after President James Monroe and the colony was formally called Liberia (the free land). [13] A peace agreement in 2003 led to democratic elections in 2005. [86] As of 2006[update], Liberia had the highest population growth rate in the world (4.50% per annum). [165] Liberians also speak a variety of creolized dialects collectively known as Liberian English. [158] Of those, 1,118,241 lived in Montserrado County, the most populous county in the country and home to the capital of Monrovia. Map of the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent, located on the African continental plate. The most popular sport in Liberia is association football, with President George Weahthe only African to be named FIFA World Player of the Yearbeing the nation's most famous athlete. The population is composed . [118] The country acted as a major trader in Sierra Leonian blood diamonds, exporting over US$300 million in diamonds in 1999. [24], The Americo-Liberian settlers did not relate well to the indigenous peoples they encountered, especially those in communities of the more isolated "bush". The interior has hot but pleasant days and cool nights during the dry season. [79], Trypanosoma brucei gambiense is endemic in some animal hosts here including both domestic and wild. [195] In 2009, government expenditure on health care per capita was US$22,[196] accounting for 10.6% of total GDP. [15], The Pepper Coast, also known as the Grain Coast, has been inhabited by indigenous peoples of Africa at least as far back as the 12th century. [81], The Hairy Slit-Faced Bat (Nycteris hispida) suffers from malaria here. It hosts FIFA World Cup qualifying matches in addition to international concerts and national political events. [114] Following Sirleaf's inauguration in 2006, Liberia signed several multi-billion-dollar concession agreements in the iron ore and palm oil industries with numerous multinational corporations, including ArcelorMittal, BHP and Sime Darby. [16], This influx of these groups was compounded by the decline of the Mali Empire in 1375 and the Songhai Empire in 1591. The first town (1822) was on Providence Island at the mouth of the Mesurado River. A map of Liberia's major rivers and their drainage systems This is a list of rivers in Liberia . [39], In the mid-20th century, Liberia gradually began to modernize with American assistance. As of 2015, it had more than 8,000 mostly Liberian employees, making it the country's largest private employer. King and Vice President Allen N. Yancy resigned. In 1980, political tensions from the rule of William R. Tolbert resulted in a military coup during which Tolbert was killed, marking the end of Americo-Liberian rule in the country and beginning over two decades of political instability. The settlers wore top hat and tails and modeled their homes on those of Southern slaveowners. The Economic Community Monitoring Group under the Economic Community of West African States organized a military task force to intervene in the crisis. Liberia declared independence on July 26, 1847, which the U.S. did not recognize until February 5, 1862. A striking feature of the mountainous northern highlands along the Guinea frontier is Mount Nimba. Liberian Muslims are divided between Sunnis, Shias, Ahmadiyyas, Sufis, and non-denominational Muslims.[169]. [69], The equatorial climate, in the south of the country, is hot year-round with heavy rainfall from May to October with a short interlude in mid-July to August. [198] As of November17, 2014[update], there were 2,812 confirmed deaths from the ongoing outbreak. See hiking info, trail maps, and trip reports for every peak. Includes 99 Liberia mountains. This page was last updated on February 24, 2021, All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions 2023 worldatlas.com. [159] As revealed in the 2008 census, Monrovia is more than four times more populous than all the county capitals combined. [77] Bushmeat is often exported to neighboring Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, despite a ban on the cross-border sale of wild animals. The oldest counties are Grand Bassa and Montserrado, both founded in 1839 prior to Liberian independence. [60] In 2011, July 26 was proclaimed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to be observed as National Independence Day. This gave it a ranking 87th of 178 countries worldwide and 11th of 47 in Sub-Saharan Africa. Liberia is bordered by the countries of Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and by the Atlantic Ocean. Believing themselves different from and culturally and educationally superior to the indigenous peoples, the Americo-Liberians developed as an elite minority that created and held on to political power. pp. (Nelson) See the Map of Liberia with Monrovia. Liberias rainforest used to abound with animals such as monkeys, chimpanzees, small antelopes, pygmy hippopotamuses, and anteaters. [citation needed] Today, over 20 political parties are registered in the country, based largely around personalities and ethnic groups. [15], Microlithic industries with ceramics became common by the Mid-Holocene, coupled with an apparent intensification of wild food exploitation. [189] Approximately 58.2%[190] 66%[191] of women are estimated to have undergone female genital mutilation. United Methodist University, a private Christian university located in Liberia, West Africa, it is commonly known amongst locals as UMU. Liberia is situated in West Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean to the country's southwest. [77] Species hunted for food in Liberia include elephants, pygmy hippopotamus, chimpanzees, leopards, duikers, and other monkeys. [66] The inauguration marked Liberia's first fully democratic transition in 74 years. Retrieved October 29, 2013, Marc DuBois and Caitlin Wake, with Scarlett Sturridge and Christina Bennett (2015). Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [79] The survey was conducted during the last civil war, and bushmeat consumption is now believed to be far higher. [147] Construction of three new heavy fuel oil power plants is expected to boost electrical capacity by 38 MW. However, over the years the two groups joined and the terms "Americo -Liberian" and "Congo" were used interchangeably. [1], The Legislature is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 1988 Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act designated the metric system as "the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce," but in practice the system is in mixed usage, with the population generally preferring customary units and industries either fully metric or mixed. Financial Time's World Desk Reference (2004) Dorling Kindersley Publishing, p. 368. Monrovia stands on such an outcropping, a ridge of diabase (a dark-coloured, fine-grained rock). Most of these Christian denominations were brought by African-American settlers moving from the United States into Liberia via the American Colonization Society, while some are indigenousespecially Pentecostal and evangelical Protestant ones. [49] The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, a rebel group based in the northwest of the country, launched an armed insurrection against Taylor. Time zone: Noon = noon GMT. )[37], Soon after, allegations of modern slavery in Liberia led the League of Nations to establish the Christy commission. The presence of MSA populations in forests remains an open question; however technological differences may correlate with various ecological zones.
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