History of Liberia facts for kids
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. 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. 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.
Images for kids
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Map of Liberia circa 1830
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Paul Cuffee in 1812.
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Liberia on a 1839 map of West Africa
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Charles D. B. King, 17th President of Liberia (1920–1930), with his entourage on the steps of the Peace Palace, The Hague (the Netherlands), 1927.
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A one Liberian Dollar banknote from 1862
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American troops in Liberia during World War II.
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President Tolbert and U.S. President Jimmy Carter (in car, left) in Monrovia, 1978
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INPFL militiamen in 1990 after taking control of much of Monrovia.
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American troops secure Freeport of Monrovia, 2003
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The Buduburam refugee camp west of Accra, Ghana, home in 2005 to more than 40,000 refugees from Liberia
See also
In Spanish: Historia de Liberia para niños
