Cestos

Last updated March 18, 2019

Cestos is a settlement in Rivercess County in central Liberia. Located along the Cestos River, it lay at the heart of a heavily contested region during the First Liberian Civil War: the National Patriotic Front of Liberia derived vast amounts of resources from Cestos and other parts of Rivercess County. A small battle was fought between the NPFL and ECOMOG peacekeepers in early May 1993: after peacekeepers captured Buchanan, NPFL strength in Rivercess County was weakened because its fighters feared going near the county due to its convenient riverine and marine transportation. Therefore, when ECOMOG approached Cestos, it faced little fighting and reported no resistance within the city itself.^[1] Since the end of the Second Liberian Civil War, transportation in the region has been improved by private concerns: in the early 2010s, reports of possible gold mines prompted a mining company to construct a road from Cestos to the Central RiverCess District town of Zammi.^[2]

Rivercess County is a county in the south-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that compose the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Cesstos City serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring 5,594 square kilometres (2,160 sq mi). As of the 2008 Census, it had a population of 71,509, making it the third least most populous county in Liberia.

Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south-southwest. It covers an area of 111,369 square kilometers (43,000 sq mi) and has a population of around 4,700,000 people. English is the official language and over 20 indigenous languages are spoken, representing the numerous ethnic groups who make up more than 95% of the population. The country's capital and largest city is Monrovia.

The Cestos River, also known as Nuon or Nipoué river, is a Liberian river that rises in the Nimba Range of Guinea and flows south along the Côte d'Ivoire border, then southwest through tracks of Liberian rain forest to empty into a bay on the Atlantic Ocean where the city River Cess is located. The pygmy hippopotamus is known to inhabit lands along stretches of the river. It forms the northern third of the international boundary between Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.

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River Cess is the capital city of Rivercess County, Liberia. As of the 2008 national census, the population stood at 2,578. It received its original name Cestos from Portuguese traders in the early 16th century from the baskets that were produced and sold in the town. Cestos in Portuguese and Spanish means basket.

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References

↑ "Rivercess Falls to Allied Forces". Monrovia Daily News, 1993-05-10, 1/6.
↑ "Good Sign of Gold in Rivercess, AMLib Declares as Citizens Make Major Demands Archived February 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine .", Liberian Observer, 2012-02-20. Accessed 2012-06-03.

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[1] "Rivercess Falls to Allied Forces". Monrovia Daily News, 1993-05-10, 1/6.

[2] "Good Sign of Gold in Rivercess, AMLib Declares as Citizens Make Major Demands Archived February 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine .", Liberian Observer, 2012-02-20. Accessed 2012-06-03.