Americo-Liberian

Americo-Liberians are the relatively wealthy elite of Liberia. They are descended from the freed blacks who immigrated in the 1800s to Liberia from America.

Some 13,000 were settled in Liberia between 1817 and 1867 by the American Colonization Society. They adopted a Christian lifestyle and lived on the coast. They based their society on U.S. culture and political organization. Governing through the True Whig party, Americo-Liberians controlled the country from its foundation in 1847 until the coup of Samuel Doe in 1980.

Under their rule the economy of Liberia rapidly developed, but their power rested largely on the repression and exploitation of the native African majority.