Present Day Liberia Research Paper

Imagine yourself as a young child. You live a happy life with your family and you have many friends. One night you are awoken by your parents and they 're telling you to get up, that you need to leave and run away. As you run out of your house you see that your whole village is engulfed in flames. You, your mother, and your siblings get away, but your father stays to fight. You are urged to keep going and in 3 days end up in Guinea. You are completely lost in what has happened, but soon you figure out that an uprising has occurred, your village is burned to the ground, and your friends and father had been killed. That is the road to Present day Liberia. The indigenous people of Liberia migrated around the twelfth and fourteenth century. They were made up of 16 different groups which are: “Kpelle (20 percent), Bassa (13 percent), Grebo (10 percent), Gio (8 percent), and Mano (8 percent). Smaller groups are the Kru, Lorma, Kissi, Gola, Gbandi, Vai, Krahn, Mende, Mandingo, Dei, and Belleh”. (“Republic of Liberia…”) From these tribal groups, there are 3 main languages: Mande, Kwa, and Mel. These 3 languages have many subdivisions to fit each tribe 's dialect. (“Liberia.” Countries…) The indigenous people also believed in animism which is, “non-human entities-such as animals, plants, and inanimate objects - possess a spiritual …show more content…
Jehudi Ashmun became involved with the American Colonization Society, and sailed with other settlers to Liberia in 1822 in hopes of colonizing more land. He bought land from the natives, sometimes using force, around the coast and rivers knowing that he could gain wealth from trade off the canals. In 1825 tribal leaders agreed to trade land for tobacco, shoes, rum and other items. (“Jehudi…”) Jehudi’s efforts were short lived when six years later he became ill. In 1882, he returned to the United States only to die on August 25, 1882 at thirty-four years