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Traveling to Liberia Today
The Republic of Liberia was one of the most stable African countries until a massive civil war. For extreme travelers, the war Liberia has ended and back on the map. Here's a look at where the country has been and where it goes.
An Overview of Liberia for Travelers
Liberia: the land of freedom. It is a fitting name considering the country was founded by freed slaves from the United States in 1820. Known as Americo-Liberians, freed slaves established Monrovia, named for U.S. President James Madison.
Although there were minor differences over the history of Liberia, was generally saved the problems of the colonized much of Africa. Indeed, Liberia was known for its hospitality, strong education system, booming rubber industry and strong liberal arts. Unfortunately, political instability led to a brutal civil war from 1989 to 1996 during which the country fell apart and over 200,000 Liberians died.
Before 1980, the country was ruled by the True Whig Party, which consisted ostensibly of descendents of freed slaves. In April 1912, 1980, Samuel Doe, led a military coup, executed the elected President and put the People's Redemption Council in power. The new leaders increasingly pursued policies favoring the indigenous Krahn ethnic peoples. This led to massive resistance from non-Krahn peoples.
In 1989, civil war broke out between various factions. The country was torn apart and Doe was ultimately defeated and killed on September 9, 1990. One of the rebel leaders, Charles Taylor, was put in charge of a provisional government. In Instead of uniting the country, more or less declared himself dictator and continued the factional fighting.
A ceasefire was established in 1997 and rebel groups agreed disarm. Taylor won elections in 1997 under questionable circumstances. Once again, he could do nothing to heal the country instead of funding an attack the guerrillas in neighboring Sierra Leone. Under massive international pressure of the "do not make us go there" type, he resigned and fled into exile on June 4, 2003.
On October 11, 2005, free elections were finally held. After a runoff, Liberia elected Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf the first female president of Liberia. She took office in January 2006. His election is seen as a very positive step by Liberia to get back on track.
As for basic information, Liberia, covers about 43,000 square miles. The capital is Monrovia and the total population of 3.24 million. Liberia has 40% of the West African rainforest. Liberia the licenser's second largest sea in the world with more than 1,800 vessels registered under its flag, including 35% of the world tanker fleet.
The people of Liberia are known as Liberians. The ethnic breakdown is Kpelle 20 percent, Bassa 16 percent, Gio 8 percent, Kru 7 percent and 49 extended percent over 12 ethnic groups. Christian Religious break down is 30 percent, 10 percent Muslim and 60 percent animist. English is the official language but there are 16 indigenous languages. Life expectancy is 47 years and the literacy rate is 56 percent.
Liberia has gone from being a stable country beautiful to civil war and back. Although the war is over, is not entirely stable at this time. Travelers seeking an extreme experience may prove to be a good destination but remains a very dangerous country.
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