History of Liberia

This early history of Liberia tells of how the country was first settled and established by American colonists in the 18th century, before achieving home rule in the 1840s.


Conceived as a place to resettle freed slaves as the practice declined in the United States, Liberia served as a staging ground for abolition campaigners to encourage Africans to achieve self-sufficiency through the cultivation of crops and establishment of commerce. Freed slaves would migrate from the USA to Liberia over the course of decades; their success was a demonstration that former slaves could prosper and thrive independently.


McPherson discusses the decades of the late 18th and early 19th century over which abolitionist campaigns gained traction. European powers, such as Britain, made the practice illegal - one by one, the northerly States of the Union also banned slavery. By the 1840s, free slaves were numerous and settled permanently both within the USA and elsewhere in places such as the fledgling Liberia.


While brief, this history is concise - at the time of its publication in 1891, Liberia had close ties with the USA. Its social customs, governance and values were closely modelled on those of the United States, with the Americo-Liberian group - who were commonly of mixed race - promoting Christianity and better education and skills for the population.