LIBERIA

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LIBERIA
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First Independent Country in Africa
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Facts About Liberia

• First Independent Country in Africa (1847)
• Country formed by free slaves from the U.S., The
  Caribbean and Britain
• Many similarities to Southern African-American
  culture cuisine, architecture, music etc
• Capital City is Monrovia named after American
  President James Monroe
• First Female President in Africa, Ellen Johnson
  Sirleaf (2005)
• Natural Resources are Rubber, Iron Ore, Diamond,
  Gold, Timber, Rain Forest

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• The history of Liberia 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.
• Modern Liberia was founded in 1822 by freed
  slaves from the United States. They were sent to
  Africa under the auspices of the American
  Colonization Society, a private organization
  whose purpose was "to promote and execute a plan
  for colonizing in Africa, with their own consent,
  the free people of color residing in the US.

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• The settlers recreated American society,
  building churches and homes that resembled
  Southern plantations. And they continued to speak
  English. They also entered into a complex
  relationship with the indigenous people --
  marrying them in some cases, discriminating
  against them in others, (and enslaving them in
  the worst of cases) but all the time attempting
  to "civilize" them and impose Western values on
  the traditional communities.
• The new colonies adopted other American styles of
  life, including southern plantation-style houses
  with deep verandahs, and established thriving
  trade links with other West Africans. The
  Americo-Liberians distinguished themselves from
  the local people, characterized as 'natives,' by
  the universal appellation of "Mr."

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Liberian Independence 1847

• The Flag

• The Seal

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THE FLAG

• The Liberia's national flag is called LONE
  STAR. The eleven horizontal stripes represent
  the eleven signers of the declaration of
  independence and the constitution of the Republic
  of Liberia the blue field symbolizes the
  continent of Africa the five pointed white star
  depicts Liberia as the first independent
  republic on the continent of Africa the red
  color designates valor the white, purity
  and the blue, fidelity. Although these
  representations are uniquely Liberian, the flag
  itself is a replica of Old Glory, the national
  flag of the United States.

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THE SEAL

• The seal shows a sailing-vessel approaching the
  coast, a palm tree, a plow and a spade on the
  shore, a dove on the wing with an open scroll in
  its claws and the sun just emerging from the
  waters. Above the emblem the national motto THE
  LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE and beneath it,
  the words REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.
• The symbols of the seal are obvious a
  peace-bringing bird, the dove, arrives with a
  message from overseas (the United States), the
  granting of independence. The ship represents the
  arrival of the colonists, as does the national
  motto THE LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US
  HERE. Also the spade and the plough refer to the
  colonists as they brought these tools with them.
  The palm tree may symbolize one of the main
  products of the region.

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Liberians First President

• Joseph Jenkins Roberts

• Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809-1876) was born in
  Virginia, U.S.A. His parents were poor. He came
  to Liberia in 1829. Roberts soon became a
  prosperous trader and also engaged in politics.
  After the creation of the Commonwealth of
  Liberia, in 1838, he became Vice-Governor. In
  1841 Governor Thomas Buchanan, a cousin of the
  President of the USA, James Buchanan, died and
  was succeeded by J.J. Roberts. It was the first
  time that the colony was not governed by a white
  agent of the American Colonization Society - its
  legal owner - but by a colonist. Although
  Roberts was a colonist, "he was not really black
  he was an octoroon and could have easily passed
  for a white man", as Aboyomi Karnga, one of
  Liberias best-known historians reported. 

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FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT IN AFRICA

• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born October 29, 1938) is
  the current President of Liberia, Africa's first
  elected female head of state and Liberia's first
  elected female president. She was elected
  President in the 2005 Presidential Election and
  took office on January 16, 2006. She is often
  referred to as the Iron Lady".

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Liberia Natural Resources

• Natural Resources

• Agricultural Products

• Timber
• Rubber
• Gold
• Diamond
• Iron Ore

• Rice
• Cassava
• Coffee
• Cocoa
• Palm Oil
• Sheep
• Goat
• Sugarcane

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THE RAINFOREST
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..continued

• Liberia hosts the last two significant blocks of
  the remaining closed canopy tropical
• rainforest within the Upper Guinea Forests of
  West Africa. The Upper Guinea Forest,
• recognized as one of the worlds twenty-five
  biodiversity hotspots, consists of a belt of
• fragmented forests that runs parallel to the
  coast of West Africa, and covers all or part
• of some ten countries, from Guinea at its western
  end to southwestern Cameroon at
• its eastern terminus. It ranks first in mammalian
  diversity among the worldstwentyfive
• hotspots. The Upper Guinea Forest hosts 551
  different species of mammals and is
• home to half of the mammal species known to the
  African continent. Additionally, it
• is among the highest priority regions in the
  world for primate conservation, and is
• consequently one of the priorities for global
  biodiversity conservation.
• The Upper Guinea Forest has shrunk to an
  estimated 12.7 of its original size,
• estimated to be 727,900 square-kilometers, and
  almost 45 of this remaining forest is in Liberia
• SHOW POSTER ON RAINFOREST ANIMALS!

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Threats of the Rainforest

• The Liberian rainforest, however, is under great
  threat, primarily from industrial logging. From
  1997 to 2001 log production increased by more
  than a staggering 1,300. Unsurprisingly, this is
  already having an enormous impact on indigenous
  rural communities and local people who depend on
  the land and the forest for their livelihood.
  Their cultural and spiritual practices are so
  dependent on the forest that, with the rapid loss
  of forest, the survival and growth of these
  communities is being severely endangered. The
  current level of poverty in these communities is
  a clear indication of what is to come if nothing
  is done to check the current trend of forest
  exploitation.

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The Civil War

• the President of Liberia, had taken power in a
  popular coup of 1980 but opposition from abroad
  to his undemocratic regime led to economic
  collapse. At first, Doe crushed internal
  opposition, but after his Krahn tribe began
  attacking other tribes particularly in Nimba
  County conflict seemed inevitable.
• Charles Taylor, who had left Doe's government,
  assembled a group of rebels in Côte d'Ivoire who
  later became known as the National Patriotic
  Front of Liberia (NPFL). They invaded Nimba
  County on 24 December 1989. The Liberian Army
  retaliated against the whole population of the
  region, attacking unarmed civilians and burning
  villages. Many left as refugees for Guinea and
  Côte dIvoire, but opposition to Doe was
  inflamed. Prince Johnson had sided with Taylor in
  the invasion, but soon split to form his own
  guerrilla force, based on the Gio tribe.

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The Beauty of Liberia