24 August: Liberia

Liberia flag day - The holiday was first observed in an 1847 convention, when the founding fathers approved the flag's design along with establishing the new republic.

1. Liberia is a country on the West African coast. Liberia means "Land of the Free" in Latin.
2. Liberia is unique in that it was founded, colonised and controlled by freed African-American slaves. It is the oldest republic in Africa and the only one not to have gained independence by revolt from another nation.
3. The national Flag is based on that of the USA. It has eleven stripes and one white star. The eleven stripes represent the signatories of the Liberian Declaration of Independence. The white star represents the first independent western-styled republic in Africa, on the blue square which represents the African continent. The Liberian flag is the only flag in the world to be modelled after and resemble the American flag.
4. The American theme continues with the capital city, Monrovia. The city is one of only two capital cities to be named after an American President (the other being Washington DC). The president in question is President James Monroe, who was a prominent supporter of the colonisation of Liberia.
5. Liberia holds the record of the longest stable rule by a single political party—from 1877 to 1980, by the True Whig Party. Founded in 1869, the party was dominated by a ruling elite of black settler families who traced their origins to the United States.
6. In 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the 24th President of Liberia, and the first elected female head of state in Africa.
7. Liberia has the second-largest maritime registry in the world behind Panama. It has 3500 vessels registered under its flag accounting for 11% of ships worldwide. This is because it is used as a "flag of convenience", a business practice whereby owners of a ship register it under the flag of another country to reduce operating costs or avoid the regulations of the home country.
8. The highest point wholly within Liberia is Mount Wuteve at 1,440 metres (4,724 ft). Mount Nimba is higher at 1,752 metres (5,748 ft) but is not wholly within Liberia as it is on the border with Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire and is their tallest mountain too.
9. Ornately carved wooden masks and sculptures are one of the crafts Liberia is known for. The carvings are usually very detailed and influenced by history, spirituality and observations of everyday life.
10. Another popular craft is quilting, which early settlers brought from America. A woman called Martha Ann Ricks, a former slave from Tennessee, saved for over fifty years, so she could travel from Liberia to England to personally thank Queen Victoria for the British navy's actions against the slave trade. She got to meet Victoria at Windsor and shake hands with her. Martha presented the Queen with a Coffee Tree quilt. Nobody knows where the quilt is today.