Liberia (1847-1980, continued)

The Americo-Liberian settlers in 1878 organised their political power in the True Whig party, which permitted no organised political opposition. Until 1980, unremitting uprising rebellion and riots from the native peoples took place causing internal unrest. A list of indegenous uprising is given below :

1836, war with grebo and kru peoples, maryland was annexedwith Liberiain 1857.
1864: uprising of inland and coastal tribes.
1875-76, war in cape Palmas.
1886, an uprising
1880-1890, some tribes stay at war
1900, bloody battle.
1915, rebellion of the Kru.
1912-20, internal wars.

Between two World Wars Liberia had three significant developments.
i) The first was the grant in 1926 of a large concession to the American-owned firestone Plantation Company,that move became a first step in the (Limited) modernizationof the Liberian economy.
ii) The second occurred duringWorl War II , when the United States began providing technical an economic assistance tahtenabled Liberia to make economic progress and itroducesocial changes.
iii) Both the Freeport of Monrovia and Roberts International Airport were built by US personal uring World War II.

After 1927, the league of Nations investigated accusations that the Liberian Govt. recruited and sold indigenous people as contract labour or slaves.
During World War II thousands of indegenous people came from the nation's interior to the coastal regions in search of jobs. Liberia signed a Defence Pact with the US in1942, and assured the Americans and their allies of all the supply of natural rubber(a strategic comodity in war time) that they needed.


Latex being
collected from a
tapped rubber tree.












It also alled the US to use its territory for military bases, and as a bridgehead for American transports of soliers and warsupplies. At this time Liberia had to cut off all connection with all European enemy countries, such as Germany, dutch, Polish etc.