Today is Liberia’s Independence Day
The Republic of Liberia is situated in West Africa. It gained independence and became Africa’s first democratic republic on 26 July 1847. Liberia began as a colony of the American Colonization Society which supported and encouraged the migration of free African Americans to Africa. This society founded the Colony of Liberia, situated to the south of the British colony of Sierra Leone, to be a land where the Free African Americans could relocate to.
One year after its independence, in 1848, Liberia held an election and declared that the Liberian constitution would be based on the American constitution. 26 July is also a Remembrance Day for the Americano-Liberian relationships as America was one of the first nations to officially recognise Liberia’s sovereignty in 1862.