Providence Island (Historically known as Perseverance, Dozoa Island, [1] or Darzoe Island [2] ) was the site of the first successful settlement of American freedmen by the American Colonization Society in Liberia. It has been proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by the government of Liberia.
After several unsuccessful attempts at colonization (different from Colonialism) along the Pepper Coast, [3] [4] [5] the American Colonization Society sent two agents, Robert F. Stockton and Eli Ayers, to negotiate with local chieftains to secure a place for colonization. [2] [6] A conference was held at Cape Mesurado, which the locals called Ducor. Reaching an agreement, known as the Ducor Contract, the Society acquired the land bounded on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean and on the south and east by the Mesurado River, including Cape Mesurado and land on Dozoa Island in the bay. [2] [7] [Notes 1] To ensure the validity of the purchase, [Notes 2] Ayers and Stockton ensured that all the surrounding chiefs signed the document. [2] It was executed by Gola chiefs Kaanda Njola of Sao's Town and Long Peter of Klay; Dei chief Kai-Peter of Stockton Creek; Kru chief Bah Gwogro (also George) of Old Kru Town; and chief Jimmy from St. Paul River. [11]
The colonizers established their first settlement in Liberia on Dozoa Island, which they renamed Perseverance and which was later renamed as Providence. In 2017, the Liberian Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism nominated the island for inclusion as a World Heritage Site. [1]
Liberia is a country in West Africa founded by free people of color from the United States. The emigration of African Americans, both freeborn and recently emancipated, was funded and organized by the American Colonization Society (ACS). The mortality rate of these settlers was the highest among settlements reported with modern recordkeeping. Of the 4,571 emigrants who arrived in Liberia between 1820 and 1843, only 1,819 survived (39.8%).
The Krahn are an ethnic group of Liberia and Ivory Coast. This group belongs to the Kru language family and its people are sometimes referred to as the Wee, Guéré, Sapo, or Wobe. It is likely that Western contact with the Kru language is the primary reason for the development of these different names.
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liberia’s total population. Its Metro Area including Montserrado and Margibi counties largely being urbanized, was home to 2,225,911 inhabtants as of the 2022 census. As the nation's primate city, Monrovia is the country's economic, financial and cultural center; its economy is primarily centered on its harbor and its role as the seat of Liberian government.
Robert Field Stockton was a United States Navy commodore, notable in the capture of California during the Mexican–American War. He was a naval innovator and an early advocate for a propeller-driven, steam-powered navy. Stockton was from a notable political family and also served as a U.S. senator from New Jersey.
Montserrado County is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia containing its national capital, Monrovia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has 17 sub political districts. As of the 2022 Census, it had a population of 1,920,914, making it the most populous county in Liberia. The area of the county measures 738.5 square miles (1,913 km2), the smallest in the country. Bensonville serves as the capital.
Edward James Roye served as the fifth president of Liberia from 1870 to his overthrow in the 1871 Liberian coup d'état and subsequent death. He had previously served as the fourth Chief Justice of Liberia from 1865 until 1868. He was the first member of Liberia's True Whig Party to serve as president.
The Kru, Krao, Kroo, or Krou are a West African ethnic group who are indigenous to western Ivory Coast and eastern Liberia. European and American writers often called Kru men who enlisted as sailors or mariners Krumen. They migrated and settled along various points of the West African coast, notably Freetown, Sierra Leone, but also the Ivorian and Nigerian coasts. The Kru-speaking people are a large ethnic group that is made up of several sub-ethnic groups in Liberia and Ivory Coast. In Liberia, there are 48 sub-sections of Kru tribes, including the Jlao Kru. These tribes include Bété, Bassa, Krumen, Guéré, Grebo, Klao/Krao, Dida, Krahn people and Jabo people.
Liberian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Liberia, as amended; the Aliens and Nationality Law, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Liberia. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Nationality describes the relationship of an individual to the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual within the nation. Liberian nationality is based on descent from a person who is "Negro", regardless of whether they were born on Liberian soil, jus soli, or abroad to Liberian parents, jus sanguinis. The Negro clause was inserted from the founding of the colony as a refuge for free people of color, and later former slaves, to prevent economically powerful communities from obtaining political power. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization.
Cape Mesurado, also called Cape Montserrado, is a headland on the coast of Liberia near the capital Monrovia and the mouth of the Saint Paul River. It was named Cape Mesurado by Portuguese sailors in the 1560s. It is the promontory on which African-American settlers established the city now called Monrovia on 25 April 1822.
Elijah Johnson was an African American who was one of the first colonial agents of the American Colonization Society in what later became Liberia. He was probably born in New Jersey and received some limited schooling in New Jersey and New York. He served as a soldier in the War of 1812 and studied for the Methodist ministry. In 1835 he led a company of 120 armed volunteers from Monrovia on a punitive expedition to engage King Joe as a result of the Port Cresson massacre. His son Hilary R. W. Johnson was elected in 1884 as President of Liberia, the first to have been born in the country.
Eli Ayers was a physician and the first colonial agent of the American Colonization Society in what later became Liberia. He was born in 1778 in Shiloh, New Jersey, and married Elizabeth West in 1812. He practiced medicine in Woodbury, New Jersey. On August 7, 1821, he left New York for West Africa on USS Shark. Together with Robert F. Stockton of USS Alligator he extorted a treaty under duress with six tribal kings on the purchase of land at Cape Mesurado. He served as the colonial agent of the American Colonization Society from December 15, 1821, until his death on April 25, 1822.
Bushrod Island is an island near Monrovia, Liberia surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Saint Paul River, the Mesurado River and Stockton Creek. It contains the Freeport of Monrovia, the major national port of Liberia and a variety of businesses. It also contains numerous residential areas and government buildings. There are four towns on the island, Vai Town, New Kru Town, Logan Town and Clara Town.
Arthington is a small town in Montserrado County, Liberia, located along the Saint Paul River northeast of the capital city of Monrovia. It is mainly known as the hometown of former President Charles Taylor, the country's 22nd president.
Matilda Newport was an Americo-Liberian colonist and folk hero. She is known for her actions in 1822 when she is alleged to have defended the settlement Cape Mesurado with a cannon she lit from her pipe. She is a controversial figure in light of the tensions between Americo-Liberians and native Liberians. The historical accuracy of the account has been challenged. A national holiday in her honour, Matilda Newport Day, was celebrated annually on 1 December from 1916 until it was abolished in 1980.
William Spencer Anderson was an African American politician and explorer in Liberia. Originally a barber, Anderson emigrated to Liberia at the age of 20 and within five years had inherited a sugar plantation. He expanded the business and became the largest producer of sugar and coffee in Liberia. Entering politics with the True Whig Party Anderson was selected to be Speaker of the House of Representatives of Liberia, from 1869 to 1871. He undertook an expedition to drive a road from Monrovia to Moussodougou in what is now Burkina Faso but he was forced to abandon the attempt. Returning to Monrovia, Anderson successfully negotiated a $500,000 loan for the government from British financiers. However he received criticism for the terms of the loan and was arrested. He was assassinated on 27 September 1872.
Zolu Duma, also known as King Peter, was a Bassa-Dei ruler of the land situated on Bushrod Island. Bushrod Island is in Montserrado County, Liberia. Today, King Peter's Town where his Palace was stationed is in the area of Logan Town on Bushrod Island. Zolu Duma was raised by the Wuling, of the Bassa people, who had gained importance as merchants trading with the Europeans, including slaves. He ruled the Gola and Vai areas in the early 19th century.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Monrovia, Liberia.
Ephraim Bacon IV was an American church minister who served as US government agent on the second American Colonization Society expedition to Africa in 1821. The expedition struggled to purchase land in Sierra Leone to found a colony and many of the colonists died from fever. Bacon was affected by the disease and fled the expedition on a British ship to Barbados, later returning to the United States. US Navy officer Robert F. Stockton was sent to take over negotiations and eventually secured land to found a colony that would become Liberia.
The Colony of Liberia, later the Commonwealth of Liberia, was a private colony of the American Colonization Society (ACS) beginning in 1822. It became an independent nation—the Republic of Liberia—after declaring independence in 1847.
Abayomi Wilfrid Karnga was a Liberian historian, educator, politician, counselor at law, and statesman who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia. Born at the settlement of Tallah in the northwestern section of Liberia in Grand Cape Mount County, Karnga began a long career in government service to include Postmaster General and General Secretary of the True Whig Party, the Liberian political party that was in power from 1869 to 1980.