Liberia Essay -- Africa

Liberia owes its establishment to the American Colonization Society founded in 1816 to resettle freed American slaves in Africa. An attempt at colonization in Sierra Leone had failed in 1815. Six years later aborigine rulers disposed(p) a tract of land on Cape Mesurado, at the sing of the Saint Paul River, to U.S. representatives, and the first Americo-Liberians, led by Jehudi Ashmun, began the settlement. In 1824 an American agent for the conjunction, Ralph Randolph Gurley, named the new colony Liberia and the Cape Mesurado settlement Monrovia. Other fragmentize settlements were established along the coast during the next 20 years. Soon, however, conflicts arose amidst the settlers and the society in the United States. By the time Joseph Jenkins Roberts became the first black regulator in 1841, the decision had been made to give the colonists almost full learn of the government. A constitution modeled on that of the United States was drawn up, and Liberia became an indie repu blic in July 1847. Roberts was its first chair, serving until 1856. Liberia was recognized by Britain in 1848, by France in 1852 and by the United States in 1862. The Americo-Liberian communities eked out a precarious existence during the 19th century. Claims over i nterior territory were challenge not only by the indigenous Mandinka (also known as Mandingo or Malinke), Kru, and Gola peoples, exclusively also by European states that did not recognize Liberian jurisdiction over the interior. U.S. support led to a series of agreements with Britain and France between 1892 and 1911, which marked the present boundaries. (Liberian control over the interior peoples, however, was not altogether assured until the 1940s.) Loans from Britain and the United States partially eased the countrys financial difficulties. Liberia declared state of war on Germany on August 14, 1917, which gave the Allies an additional base in West Africa during World War I (1914-1918). In 1926 the Firestone Tire a nd caoutchouc Company opened a rubber plantation on 400,000 hectares (1 one thousand thousand acres) of land granted by the Liberian government the year before. synthetic rubber production became the mainstay of the nations economy.In 1931 the League of Nations confirmed that Americo-Liberians were using native Africans for forced labor, tantamount to slavery. The ensuing scandal implicated the highest government officials the president and vice presi... ...otestant. Islam has made progress among the people of the interior, who have largely carry their animist religions. Altogether, about 70 per centum of the people follow traditionalistic religions and 20 percent are Muslim. English is Liberias official language but is spoken by only about one-fifth of the people. The remainder express various African languages which mainly belong to the Mande, West Atlantic, or Kwa lingual groups.Malaria, tuberculosis, yaws, and leprosy is prevalent in Liberia. In 2001 average life expecta ncy at birth was 53 years for women and 50 years for men the sister mortality rate was 132 per 1,000 live births. Some hospitals are operated by the rudimentary government, but no national social-welfare system exists. The Compulsory Education pretend of 1912 set ups for compulsory, free education for children between the ages of 6 and 16. However, government attempts to implement this uprightness are hindered by a scarcity of educational facilities, and only 33 percent of primary school-aged children were receiving education in 1996. Just 71 percent of the population were literate in 2001. The University of Liberia, in Monrovia and several colleges provide higher education.