What do you know about Liberia, the mission home of Frido Kinkolenge? Perhaps you know that it is located on the west coast of central Africa, but did you know that the country was founded by former American slaves?

Officially known as the Republic of Liberia, the nation is home to 3,476,608 people and covers 43,000 sq mi.[3] Its capital is Monrovia, named after the fifth president of the United States. Its second city is Buchanan City, after James Buchanan, another American president.

The history of Liberia is unique among African nations, notably because of its relationship with the United States. It is one of the few countries in Africa, and the only country in West Africa, without roots in the European Scramble for Africa. Founded as a colony by the American Colonization Society in 1821-22, it was created as a place for slaves freed in the United States to emigrate to in Africa, on the premise they would have greater freedom and equality there.

Slaves freed from slave ships also were sent there instead of being repatriated to their countries of origin.

These freed slaves formed an elite group in Liberian society, and, in 1847, they founded the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled on that of the United States, naming Monrovia, their capital city, after James Monroe, a prominent supporter of the colonization.

On April 12, 1980, a successful military coup was staged by a group of noncommissioned army officers led by Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe. This marked the beginning of a period of instability that eventually led to a civil war that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and devastated the country’s economy.

In a late-night raid, the soldiers killed William R. Tolbert, Jr., who had been president for nine years, in his mansion. Calling themselves the People’s Redemption Council, Doe and his associates seized control of the government and brought an end to Africa’s first republic. There were successive civil wars in 1989 and 2003, the first due to reaction to the harsh dictatorial atmosphere under Samuel Doe.

In 1998 the brutal regime of Americo-Liberian Charles Taylor targeted several leading opposition and political activists. The government sought to assassinate child rights activist Kimmie Weeks for a report he had published on its involvement in the training of child soldiers, which forced him into exile. Taylor’s autocratic and dysfunctional government led to the Second Liberian Civil War in 1999.

The conflict intensified in mid-2003, and the fighting moved into Monrovia. An elite rapid response unit of the US Marines known as ‘FAST’ deployed to the US Embassy to ensure the security and interests of the US. The Marines used US Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk to airlift non-combatants and foreign nationals to Dakar, Senegal.

More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the civil wars. Today, Liberia is recovering from the lingering effects of the civil war and related economic dislocation.

-Dick Perry