October - December 2017 •
The Lion King
• 35
COUNTRY FOCUS
Photo Credit: flickr.com/Erik Cleves
Photo Credit: flickr.com/Cameron Zohoori
L
iberia was founded and colonized,
by citizens of the United States and
ex-Caribbean slaves and their free
black descendants. In 1847, Liberia
proclaimed its independence from the
American Colonization Society (ACS).
Until 1980, Liberia was dominated by
the small minority of descendants of
the free black colonists, known collec-
tively as Americo-Liberians.
This naturally beautiful country in West
Africa, borders with Sierra Leone,
Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire. Its Coastal
line measures 360m with naturally
grown coconut trees lined up on its
beaches. There are fifteen counties
and sixteen tribes with the Kpelle
speaking tribe being the largest. In
2005 the Country produced Africa’s
first female president, Madam Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf.
