Liberia's Timeline

• Pre Constitution

  Colonial Agents (click to view)

  13th Colonial Agent Anthony D. Williams - April 13, 1830

  15th Colonial Agent: George McGill - September 24, 1833

  17th Colonial Agent: Nathaniel Brander - May 10, 1835

  19th Colonial Agent: Anthony D. Williams - September 25, 1836

  21st Governor: Joseph Jenkins Roberts - September 3, 1841

  
  

  Click here for full list

• Constitution

  Constitution modelled on that of the US is drawn up.

• Independence

  Liberia becomes independent.

• WWI

  Liberia declares war on Germany, giving the Allies a base in West Africa.

• Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company

  Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company opens rubber plantation on land granted by government. Rubber production becomes backbone of economy.

• Forced-labour

  Forced-labour practices abolished.

• William Tubman

  William Tubman elected president.

• WWII

  Government declares war on the Axis powers

• Vote for all

  Women and indigenous property owners vote in the presidential election for the first time.

• Law change

  Racial discrimination outlawed.

• President William V.S. Tubman legacy's - founding of the OAU, now AU

  President Tubman began setting the stage for the holding of this historic conference in Sanniquellie, the provincial capital of Nimba County, where the three leaders – Toure, Nkrumah and the host Tubman, met from July 15 to 19, 1959.

• Tubman dies

  Tubman dies and is succeeded by William Tolbert Jr.

• Government accepts aid

  Government accepts aid from the Soviet Union for the first time.

• Agreement with the EEC

  Liberia signs trade agreement with the European Economic Community.

• Law change

  More than 40 people are killed in riots following a proposed increase in the price of rice.

• Military coup

  Master Sergeant Samuel Doe carries out military coup. President Tolbert and 13 of his aides are publicly executed. A People's Redemption Council headed by Doe suspends constitution and assumes full powers.

• pressure from the United States

  Doe's regime allows return of political parties following pressure from the United States and other creditors.

• Elections

  Doe wins presidential election.

• Charles Taylor begins an uprising

  National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor begins an uprising against the government.

• Ecowas sends peacekeeping

  Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) sends peacekeeping force. Doe is executed by a splinter group of the NPFL.

• Stop-go Fighting

  After several years of chaotic, stop-go fighting, Taylor wins a presidential election. International observers declare the elections free and fair.

• The West threaten to suspend aid to Liberia

  Ghana and Nigeria accuse Liberia of supporting Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone. Britain and the US threaten to suspend aid to Liberia.

• Stability remains elusive

  Stability remains elusive. Government reports first attacks by rebels who identify themselves as Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).

• UN Arms Embargo

  UN Security Council reimposes arms embargo to punish Taylor for trading weapons for diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone.

• Refugees flee fighting

  More than 50,000 Liberians and Sierra Leonean refugees flee fighting. In February Taylor declares a state of emergency.

• Rebels advance

  Rebels advance to within 10km of Monrovia.

• President Taylor accused of war crimes

  Talks in Ghana aimed at ending rebellion overshadowed by indictment accusing President Taylor of war crimes over his alleged backing of rebels in Sierra Leone.

• Fighting intensifies

  Fighting intensifies; rebels battle for control of Monrovia. Several hundred people are killed. West African regional group Ecowas agrees to provide peacekeepers.

• Peacekeepers arrives

  Nigerian peacekeepers arrive. Charles Taylor leaves Liberia after handing power to his deputy Moses Blah. US troops arrive. Interim government and rebels sign peace accord. Gyude Bryant chosen to head interim administration. Rebels hand in their weapons.

• UN launches major peacekeeping

  US forces pull out. UN launches major peacekeeping mission, deploying thousands of troops.

• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf elected

  Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becomes the first woman to be elected as an African head of state.

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission

  Truth and Reconciliation Commission is set up to investigate human rights abuses between 1979 and 2003.

• Charles Taylor appears before a UN-backed court

  Former president Charles Taylor appears before a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone on charges of crimes against humanity. In June the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court agrees to host his trial.

• Charles Taylor appears before a UN-backed court

  UN Security Council eases a ban on weapons sales so Liberia can arm newly trained security forces. An embargo on Liberian timber exports is lifted shortly afterwards.

• Gnerator-powered street lights switched on

  President Johnson Sirleaf switches on generator-powered street lights in the capital, which has been without electricity for 15 years.

• UN Security Council lifts its ban

  UN Security Council lifts its ban on Liberian diamond exports. The ban was imposed in 2001 to stem the flow of "blood diamonds", which helped to fund the civil war.

• UN urges

  UN urges Liberia to outlaw trial by ordeal.

• Charles Taylor's war crimes trial

  Start of Charles Taylor's war crimes trial in The Hague, where he stands accused of instigating atrocities in Sierra Leone.

• Supreme Court rules that the president can appoint local mayors

  Supreme Court rules that the president can appoint local mayors because the government cannot afford to hold municipal elections. Municipal elections have not been held since 1985 because of financial constraints and successive civil wars.

• President Bush visits

  US President George W Bush ends a five-country tour of Africa with a visit to Liberia, one of America's staunchest allies on the continent.

• First census since 1984.

  Liberia conducts its first census since 1984.

• President Johnson Sirleaf admits to Truth and Reconciliation Commission

  President Johnson Sirleaf admits to Truth and Reconciliation Commission that she mistakenly backed ex-President Charles Taylor when he launched the 14-year civil war in 1989.

• Truth Commission recommends

  Truth Commission submits report to parliament, recommends prosecuting 200 people and listing others who should be barred from public office, including President Johnson Sirleaf.

• Truth Commission recommends

  UN Security Council votes to extend mandate of UN forces in Liberia (UNMIL) into 2010 to help with 2011 elections.

• Fighting erupts between Christians and Muslims

  Fighting erupts between Christians and Muslims in northern province of Lofa after the killing of a Christian student. Several churches and mosques are destroyed.

• IMF, World Bank devise plan

  IMF, World Bank devise plan to relieve Liberia of heavy debt burden.

• IMF, World Bank devise plan

  The 19-nation Paris Club of creditor countries pardon $1.2bn worth of debt owed by Liberia.

• The Paris Club pardon Liberia

  IMF, World Bank devise plan to relieve Liberia of heavy debt burden.

• The Paris Club pardon Liberia

  President Johnson Sirleaf dismisses cabinet, reportedly to start with a ''clean slate''.

• The Paris Club pardon Liberia

  President Johnson Sirleaf dismisses cabinet, reportedly to start with a ''clean slate''.

• War crimes trial of Charles Taylor ends

  War crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor ends, with a judgment expected to be handed down later in the year.

• Nobel Peace Prize

  President Johnson Sirleaf awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

• Presidential elections

  Presidential elections. President Johnson Sirleaf wins re-election. Her main rival boycotts the second round.

• Reports of oil off the coasts

  Energy companies report discovery of oil off the coasts of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Work continues to estimate their size.

• Charles Taylor is found guilty

  Ex-president Charles Taylor is found guilty of war crimes for aiding and directing rebels in Sierra Leone. He is sentenced to 50 years in jail, to be served in Britain.

• Liberia closes its border

  Liberia closes its border with Ivory Coast after seven UN peacekeepers are killed on the Ivorian side, by attackers allegedly based in Liberia.

• President suspends forestry

  President suspends forestry chief and launches probe into recent timber deals amid concerns of widespread fraud.

• UN helps Refugee return home

  UN Refugee Agency completes a programme that helped more than 155 000 Liberians return home, hailing it as evidence of the return of peace after the civil war.

• UN helps Refugee return home

  Campaign group Global Witness says half the forest in Liberia is being logged illegally, in spite of government promises to halt such activity.

• Spread of Ebola in west Africa

  Liberia announces emergency measures to combat spread of outbreak of Ebola virus.
  
  World Health Organisation says the spread of Ebola in west Africa is an international public health emergency, and calls for a coordinated response. US President Obama announces 3,000 US military personnel being sent to west Africa to build new health facilities and to train health workers.

• UN declares Liberia free of Ebola

  UN declares Liberia and the whole of West Africa provisionally free of Ebola. More than 11,000 died of the disease in West Africa since December 2013, 4,809 of them in Liberia.

• UN peacekeeping forces handover

  UN peacekeeping forces in Liberia (UNMIL) hand back responsibility for security to the country's army and police. The mission first deployed in 2003, after two civil wars in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

• George Weah elected

  George Weah elected president.