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A war-torn country in the west coast of Africa, neighbouring Sierra Leone. Like its neighbour, it was settled as a colony for freed slaves, this time from America. Thus the capital is named Monrovia, in honour of James Monroe whose plans helped the idea of resettlement back in Africa come to exist. The freed slaves were not particularly friendly towards the native Liberians, in fact they treated them as they had once been when enslaved. Such divisions between the settlers and the natives caused Samuel K. Doe to lead a coup against the then government of Liberia in The Eighties.
This led to a a long and vicious civil war sparking off war in neighbouring Sierra Leone. How vicious, you ask? Well, Samuel K. Doe was eventually tortured to death by a rival named Prince Y. Johnson. Said torture was filmed, and allegedly showed Prince sipping a Budweiser while Doe was getting his ear hacked off. The film made the rounds in various African marketplaces. Charles Taylor then took things over and screwed things up in neighboring countries (funding rebels, etc.) until he was forced to leave by international pressure, spearheaded by former US president George HW Bush. Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became president afterwards. Things have been relatively peaceful there since then.
The previously mentioned Sirleaf is Africa's first female president. Alongside Ethiopia, it is the only country on the continent not to be colonised by Europeans (not counting the Italian invasion before World War II) and, unlike Ethiopia, it is the only country on the continent that wasn't from a traditional African nation or a former European colony. Has a unique relationship tie with America because of the former American Colonization Society.
Tropes:
The flag shares a similar design to that of the United States, alluding to the country's origins in the American Colonization Society. Eleven alternating stripes of red (symbolizing valor) and white (symbolizing purity) recall eleven men who signed the Liberian Declaration of Independence — Samuel Benedict, John Day, Anthony William Gardiner, J.B. Gripon, Amos Herring, Elijah Johnson, John Lewis, Richard Murray, Jacob Prout, Ephraim Titler, and Beverly Wilson; the blue (symbolizing fidelity) canton symbolizes Africa, and the white star symbolizes freedom.
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alternative title(s): Liberia
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