Liberia Cities

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Liberia Cities by Population

17 cities shown of 17 total Liberia cities that are over 1,000 in population...

1. Monrovia 939,524
2. Gbarnga 45,835
3. Kakata 33,945
4. Bensonville 33,188
5. Harper 32,661
6. Voinjama 26,594

7. Buchanan 25,731
8. Zwedru 25,678
9. New Yekepa 24,695
10. Greenville 16,434
11. Ganta 13,802
12. Robertsport 11,969

13. Sanniquellie 11,415
14. Fish Town 3,328
15. Tubmanburg 3,155
16. Bopolu 2,908
17. Barclayville 2,733

Liberia History

The name Liberia denotes liberty"" as Black Americans moved to Liberia in 1822, and founded the country in 1847 with the support of the American Colonization Society creating a new ethnic group called the Americo-Liberians. However, this introduction of a new ethnic mix resulted in ethnic tensions with the sixteen other main ethnicities."

Anthropological research shows the region of Liberia was inhabited at least as far back as the 12th century, perhaps earlier. Mende-speaking people expanded westward, forcing many smaller ethnic groups southward towards the Atlantic ocean. The Deys, Bassa, Kru, Gola and Kissi were some of the earliest recorded arrivals. This influx was compounded during the ancient decline of the Western Sudanic Mali Empire in 1375 and later in 1591 with the Songhai Empire. Additionally, inland regions underwent desertification, and inhabitants were pressured to move to the wetter Pepper Coast. These new inhabitants brought skills such as cotton spinning, cloth weaving, iron smelting, rice and sorghum cultivation, and social and political institutions from the Mali and Songhay Empires.

Shortly after the Manes conquered the region there was a migration of the Vai people into the region of Grand Cape Mount. The Vai were part of the Mali Empire who were forced to migrate when the empire collapsed in the fourteenth century. The Vai chose to migrate to the coastal region.

The ethnic Kru opposed the migration of the Vai into their region. An alliance of the Manes and Kru were able to stop the further migration of the Vai but the Vai remained in the Grand Cape Mount region.