U.S. Department of State. Bureau of International Research. Africa: Pattern of Sovereignty. (Geographic Bulletin No. 6.) Washington: 1968.

U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Mines. The Mineral Industry of Liberia. (Preprint from the 1969 Bureau of Mines Minerals Yearbook). Washington: 1969.

Warner, Esther S. The Crossing Fee. London: Gollanz, 1968.

Wilson, Charles M. Liberia: Black Africa in Microcosm. New York: Harper, 1971.

Winston, F. D. D. "Greenberg's Classification of African Languages," African Language Studies [London], VI, 1966, 160-170.

Wintrob, R. M. "Psychosis in Association with Possession in Genii in Liberia," Psychopathologie Africaine [Montreal], II, No. 2, 1966, 249-259.

Wold, Joseph Conrad. God's Impatience in Liberia. Grand Rapids: William B. Erdmans, 1968.

Wrubel, Thomas P. "Liberia: The Dynamics of Continuity," Journal of Modern African Studies [London], IX, No. 2, August 1971, 129– 204.

Zarr, Gerald H. "Juvenile Delinquency and Liberian Law," Liberian Law [Monrovia], University of Liberia, Grimes School of Law. I, No. 2, December 1965, 201-233.

"Liberia." Pages 193-212 in A. Milner (ed.), African Penal Systems. New York: Praeger, 1969.

Zetterstrom, Ajell. Ethnographic Survey of Southeastern Liberia: Preliminary Report of the Kru. Robertsport, Liberia: Tubman Center of African Culture, 1969.

(Various issues of the following periodicals were also used in the preparation of this section: African Abstracts [London], January 1964 -June 1971; Africa Report [Washington], January 1965-August 1971; Africa Research Bulletin [London], January 1964-June 1971; Asian and African Review [London], January 1968-July 1971; Liberian Age [Monrovia], January 1, 1970-September 1, 1971; New York Times, January 1, 1968-September 8, 1971; Washington Post, January 1, 1968 -September 8, 1971; West Africa [London], January 1968-September 1971. The reader is also referred to the Liberian Law Journal (law and sociological subjects) [Monrovia], published from 1965 through 1968 only, and Liberian Studies Journal (anthropological, historical, and social studies) initiated at DePauw University in 1968 and transferred in 1971 to the University of Delaware.

COUNTRY SUMMARY

1. COUNTRY: Republic of Liberia; oldest republic in Africa, founded in 1847; capital Monrovia.

2. SIZE: About 43,000 square miles.

3. TOPOGRAPHY: Low coastal plain backed by rolling plateau, broken by hills and rocky promontories of mountain ranges within Guinea Highlands; a few elevations exceed 4,000 feet; eastern section of country is rugged and forest covered. Land is well watered, and at least nine principal river basins drain southward to Atlantic Ocean. 4. CLIMATE: Warm and humid year around with marked wet and dry seasons; most rain falls between April and November. Annual rainfall in coastal region ranges from 100 inches in southeast to 200 inches in northwest; average of about 70 inches on central plateaus. Average annual daily temperatures of about 80°F; maximum of slightly more than 100°F, and minimum rarely less than 50°F at higher inland elevations.

5. POPULATION: Roughly 1.25 million estimated in mid-1971; annual growth rate of about 1.9 percent. Most people live in broad belt stretching across country from Monrovia-Lower Buchanan coastline northwestward over low inland plateau area; density averages 27 per square mile but varies greatly over whole country. Population is 99.2 percent African, divided into more than sixteen distinct local ethnic groups and several of non-Liberian origin; 1.5 percent are descendants of early coastal settlers from the Western Hemisphere. Indigenous tribal groups include Kpelle, Kissi, Gola, Grebo, Kru, Mandingo, Bassa, Belle, Dei, Gbandi, Gio, Krahn, Loma (Buzzi), Mano, Mende, and Vai.

6. LANGUAGES: More than twenty local languages and dialects; are all of Niger-Congo language group, including Mande, West Atlantic, and Kru branch of Kwa subgroup; some have written scripts. English is official language used for government affairs, education, mass communications.

7. RELIGION: Of adult population, about 60 to 70 percent adhere to traditional religious forms; about 15 percent profess Christianity; rest are Muslims. Protestant denominations-Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Pentecostalists-predominate among adherents of Christianity; Roman Catholicism more widespread among Kru peoples.

8. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS: Country is divided into nine counties and Monrovia Commonwealth District. Each county is administered by superintendent appointed by president. Second-order administrative level exists in form of local chiefdoms and village authorities.

9. GOVERNMENT: Central government, modeled after that of United States, is divided into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. By authority of Constitution of 1847, executive power is vested in president, assisted by vice president and sixteen-member cabinet. Both president and vice president are elected by popular vote for term of eight years and may be reelected for four-year terms. In late 1971 chief executive was President William R. Tolbert. Bicameral legislature consists of eighteen-member Senate and fifty-two-member House of Representatives, both popularly elected. Senators serve for terms of six years; representatives, for four-year terms.

10. JUSTICE: Judicial power vested in Supreme Court in Monrovia, ten circuit courts (two in Monrovia and one in each county), and multiple inferior courts. Circuit courts are jury courts of record and have criminal, civil, and probate jurisdictions. All judges appointed by president of republic. Because of dual code of civil law, tribal courts in interior areas administer customary law pertaining to civil

matters.

11. EDUCATION: Schools include those of traditional system, based on tribal lore or Muslim teachings and maintained by tribal authorities, and those of modern system maintained by government, missions, or private institutions. In 1969/70 academic year about 146,000 students attended some 830 schools with 4,300 teachers. About a third of estimated school-age population in school. High proportion of elite group has university degrees. Literacy estimated at 10 to 15 percent.

12. HEALTH: Major prevalent diseases include malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, bilharziasis (transmitted by freshwater snails), trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), intestinal parasites, gastroenteritic illnesses, hookworm, skin diseases, tropical ulcers. Diets generally deficient in protein.

13. ECONOMY: Subsistence agriculture provides livelihood to most of population. National income, export earnings, and government revenue depend heavily on activity in foreign-operated, but partly government-owned, enclave sector, notably in iron mining but also in rubber export. Participation of Liberians in rubber growing has been increasing. Iron ore has been principal source of rapid growth from 1950 to 1960 and more moderate expansion from 1960 to 1970. Agriculture remains undeveloped. Manufacturing activity extremely limited. Liberal incentives provided to foreign investment. After incurring heavy burden of foreign debt, 1963-71 stabilization program

restored measure of stability in internal finances and external payments, paved way for greater development effort in future.

14. PRINCIPAL EXPORTS: Iron ore (70 percent), rubber (15 percent), diamonds (2 to 5 percent, including reexports), coffee, cocoa, and timber.

15. PRINCIPAL IMPORTS: Machinery and transport equipment (29 to 49 percent), manufactured goods (24 to 36 percent), food and live animals (16 to 21 percent).

16. CURRENCY: Money in circulation since 1943 is United States currency plus Liberian coinage in silver and copper since 1964. Basic currency unit is Liberian dollar divided into 100 cents; one Liberian dollar equals US$1.

17. COMMUNICATIONS: Government-owned and operated automatic telephone exchange in Monrovia; radiotelephone and radiotelegraph connections to most county seats and other major towns; private communications systems operated by foreign mining and rubber concessions. International telecommunications by radiotelegraph and cable service, but communications expansion project underway. Four daily newspapers; one government-owned and -operated radio station in Monrovia; other stations operated by Sudan Interior Mission and Protestant Episcopal Church; national television station in Monrovia.

18. RAILROADS: Three rail lines owned and operated by iron ore mining concessions. Forty-two-mile narrow-gauge line connects Monrovia with Bomi Hills iron ore mines and National Iron Ore Company in Grand Cape Mount County; standard-gauge line from Liberian American-Swedish Minerals Company (LAMCO) mines at Mount Nimba to coastal port of Lower Buchanan (distance of 165 miles); fifty-mile standard-gauge line from mine at Bong Hills to Monrovia.

19. INLAND WATERWAYS: Cavalla River is navigable for fifty miles from its mouth on Liberia-Ivory Coast border; Saint Paul River is navigable by shallow-draft boats for about twenty miles from its mouth near Monrovia.

20. PORTS: Major deepwater ports at Bushrod Island (Monrovia) and at Buchanan; smaller ports at Greenville and Harper. Small coastal vessels call at various coastal towns to pick up and discharge cargoes by surf boat.

21. ROADS: About 3,000 miles of roads (about 300 miles hardsurfaced) plus rudimentary tracks. Older network converged on Monrovia, but newer integrated system being developed with improved connections to neighboring countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. Many roads in remote areas of interior are unimproved.

22. CIVIL AVIATION: Single international airport accommodates jet transports at Robertsfield, fifty miles east of Monrovia; Spriggs Payne