History of Liberia
Liberia was first colonized by former slaves from the United States in 1821, it was not until the late 1840's before settlement dramatically increased. In 1847, the Liberian Declaration of Independence, which was based on the principles of the United States constitution, was signed, and the Independent Republic of Liberia was formed. The government predominantly consisted of Americo-Liberians despite the fact that only 5% of Liberians were from the US. By 1870, over 13,000 immigrants had migrated over from the United States, 60% of which were emancipated slaves.
However, by 1877, the True Whig Party was the most powerful political party in the country, and monopolized political power to the point where although officially a democracy, the government was not democratic in practice and instead more of an oligarchy. This led to increased tension between the foreign rulers and the native indigenous majority, as the indigenous populations were not being represented in government. The Americo-Liberians justified their rule through their beliefs of ethnocentrism, as they were generally lighter-skinned, had religious superiority from Christianity, and had the cultural superiority of European values.
In 1923, European Nations began investigating the shipment of indigenous Liberian natives as slaves to the island of Fernando Po (part of Equatorial Guinea). This was known as the Fernando Po Crisis.