Liberia

Did you know?

• 🥇A West African country founded in the early 19th century by freed African Americans, forming Africa's oldest republic.
• 🏳️What does its flag mean? The 11 red and white stripes represent the 11 signers of the Liberian Declaration of Independence; red symbolizes valor and white symbolizes moral purity. The blue canton represents the African continent, and a white five-pointed star symbolizes Liberia as the first independent republic in Africa (the 'Lone Star').
• 🇺🇸Modeled after the US: Liberia's constitution, capital city name (Monrovia, named after US President James Monroe), and flag were directly modeled after the United States.
• 🚢Maritime registry giant: Liberia operates one of the world's largest ship registries; thousands of international cargo ships fly the Liberian flag as a flag of convenience.
• 🇱🇷Uncolonized republic: Along with Ethiopia, Liberia was one of the only two African nations to maintain its sovereignty throughout the 19th-century 'Scramble for Africa'.