liberia

noun

1. a republic in W Africa: founded by freed American slaves 1822. About 43,000 sq. mi. (111,000 sq. km). Capital: Monrovia.

noun

1. a republic in W Africa, on the Atlantic: originated in 1822 as a home for freed Afro-American slaves, with land purchased by the American Colonization Society; republic declared in 1847; exports are predominantly rubber and iron ore. Official language: English. Religion: Christian majority, also animist. Currency: dollar. Capital: Monrovia. Pop: 3 989 703 (2013 est). Area: 111 400 sq km (43 000 sq miles)

African nation, begun as a resettlement project of freed American slaves in 1816 by the American Colonization Society, the name chosen by society member and U.S. senator Robert Goodloe Harper (1765-1825) from Latin liber “free” (see liberal). Republic in western Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone to the northwest, Guinea to the north, the Ivory Coast to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest.