Liberia is a country in West Africa that was founded on 7 January 1822 by the American Colonization Society with the goal of providing a home for freed African slaves in America. On 26 July 1847, Liberia declared independence as an independent nation, and on 5 February 1862 the United States recognized Liberia's independence. From 1822 to 1861, 15,000 freed African slaves and 3,198 Afro-Caribenos immigrated to Liberia, and it was the only African republic to be formed without a revolt as well as the oldest republic on the continent. With a constitution and flag modeled after the USA and English as its official language, Liberia has gradually lost touch with its roots as the ruling Amero-Liberians lost power with William R. Tolbert, Jr.'s overthrow by Samuel Doe in a military coup on 12 April 1980. The 1990s and early 2000s saw the First Liberian Civil War and Second Liberian Civil War, but order was gradually restored as the remnants of Charles Taylor's dictatorship were swept away. Ebola hit the country in 2014, but it ended by 8 May 2015, and the country has been restored to a state of normalcy. In 1836, the country had 114,000 people, with 76.5% being Kru, 14.7% African Minor, and 7.9% Mande; 87.6% were animist, 7.9% Sunni, and 4.5% Protestant. In 2015, the country had a population of 4,503,000 people, with 20.3% being Kpelle, 13.4% Bassa, 10% Grebo, 8% Gio, 7.9% Mano, 6% Kru, 5.1% Lorma, 4.8% Kissi, 4.4% Gola, and 20.1% others. 85.5% is Christian, 12.2% Muslim, 1.5% atheist, .5% animist, and .1% other.
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