Buchanan (Liberia)

Region

Buchanan is the third largest city in the West African Republic of Liberia. The well-known as a shipping port for iron ore export before the Civil War the port town is located about 70 kilometers southeast of the capital Monrovia on Waterhouse Bay, a prominent segment of the Liberian Atlantic coast. Buchanan is the capital of Grand Bassa County.

History

The city is named after Thomas Buchanan Buchanan, a prominent governor of the American Colonization Society. The modern city developed on the so called Kru Coast, first of settlements that were founded in 1832 by free, mostly African-American settlers from the United States and the Caribbean as the nucleus of a planned colony. In June 1835, the neighboring colony of Port Cresson was by insurgents from the people of Grebo who inhabited these lands next to the Kru for centuries, invaded and obliterated the surviving settlers fled to Buchanan. Also, a group originally from Pennsylvania African-American Quaker dared at that time a colony - founding, which they called Bassa Cove. As well as these settlers were the target of attacks, all decided to join the main colony of Liberia on 1 April 1839.

The city of Buchanan is the birthplace of Daniel Edward Howard, 16th Liberian president ( 1912-1920 ).

Buchanan was developed as a commercial and administrative center. The fishing port also served to the hinterland produced goods - mostly oil palm products and coffee - to be shipped to Europe and the United States.

Cityscape

The city of Buchanan consists of three parts: