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WORLD FACTBOOK (US)
Introduction: Settlement of freed slaves from the US in what is today Liberia began in 1822; by 1847, the Americo-Liberians were able to establish a republic. William TUBMAN, president from 1944-71, did much to promote foreign investment and to bridge the economic, social, and political gaps between the descendents of the original settlers and the inhabitants of the interior. In 1980, a military coup led by Samuel DOE ushered in a decade of authoritarian rule. In December 1989, Charles TAYLOR launched a rebellion against DOE's regime that led to a prolonged civil war in which DOE himself was killed. A period of relative peace in 1997 allowed for elections...
BACKGROUND NOTES (US)
History: Portuguese explorers established contacts with Liberia as early as 1461 and named the area Grain Coast because of the abundance of "grains of paradise" (Malegueta pepper seeds). In 1663 the British installed trading posts on the Grain Coast, but the Dutch destroyed these posts a year later. There were no further reports of European settlements along the Grain Coast until the arrival of freed
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COUNTRY PROFILE (UK)
History: Liberia was established as an independent state by freed slaves from America in 1847. They were joined by Africans released from slave ships off the West African coast. For more than 130 years from its founding, politics were dominated by the small minority of the population descended from these original settlers, known as the Americo-Liberians or Congo. During that era, Liberia was renowned for its stability, its functioning economy and the large amount of foreign investment it attracted in the rubber plantations and the iron ore mines. But the indigenous Africans were largely excluded from political power.
In 1980 ...
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