29 Facts About Liberia

Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast.

Liberia began in the early 19th century as a project of the American Colonization Society, which believed black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States.

Liberia was the first African republic to proclaim its independence and is Africa's first and oldest modern republic.

President William Tubman encouraged economic and political changes that heightened the country's prosperity and international profile; Liberia was a founding member of the League of Nations, United Nations, and the Organisation of African Unity.

Liberia struggled to attract investment to develop infrastructure and a larger, industrial economy.

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Subsequently, it was one of 32 nations to take part in the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, which ended the war and established the League of Nations; Liberia was among the few African and non-Western nations to participate in both the conference and the founding of the League.

Under Taylor's leadership, Liberia became internationally known as a pariah state due to its use of blood diamonds and illegal timber exports to fund the Revolutionary United Front in the Sierra Leone Civil War.

In March 2003, a second rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia, began launching attacks against Taylor from the southeast.

Liberia is situated in West Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean to the country's southwest.

Liberia's watershed tends to move in a southwestern pattern towards the sea as new rains move down the forested plateau off the inland mountain range of Guinee Forestiere, in Guinea.

Liberia has been an active participant in international and local policy changes related to climate change.

Liberia possesses about forty percent of the remaining Upper Guinean rainforest.

Liberia is a global biodiversity hotspot—a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans.

Species hunted for food in Liberia include elephants, pygmy hippopotamus, chimpanzees, leopards, duikers, and other monkeys.

Liberia is divided into fifteen counties, which, in turn, are subdivided into a total of 90 districts and further subdivided into clans.

Government of Liberia, modeled on the government of the United States, is a unitary constitutional republic and representative democracy as established by the Constitution.

Liberia gained observer status with the World Trade Organization in 2010 and became an official member in 2016.

Liberia has the highest ratio of foreign direct investment to GDP in the world, with US$16 billion in investment since 2006.

Agriculture in Liberia is a major sector of the country's economy worth 38.

Liberia has a climate favourable to farming, vast forests, and an abundance of water, yet low yields mean that over half of foodstuffs are imported, with net agricultural trade at -$73.

Mining industry of Liberia has witnessed a revival after the civil war which ended in 2003.

In 2013, Liberia began importing power from neighboring Ivory Coast and Guinea through the West African Power Pool.

Thirty-one indigenous languages are spoken in Liberia, but each is a first language for only a small percentage of the population.

Hospitals in Liberia include the John F Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia and several others.

In early August 2014 Guinea closed its borders to Liberia to help contain the spread of the virus, as more new cases were being reported in Liberia than in Guinea.

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Liberia has a rich history in textile arts and quilting, as the settlers brought with them their sewing and quilting skills.

Liberia hosted National Fairs in 1857 and 1858 in which prizes were awarded for various needle arts.

Liberia has a tradition of baking imported from the United States that is unique in West Africa.

Liberia has not yet completely adopted the International System of Units .