Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. Liberia, meaning "Land of the Free" in Latin, is bordered by Sierra Leone to its west, Guinea to its north and Ivory Coast to its east.
Forests on the coastline are composed mostly of salt-tolerant mangrove trees, while the more sparsely populated inland has forests opening onto a plateau of drier grasslands. The climate is equatorial, with significant rainfall during the May–October rainy season and harsh harmattan winds the remainder of the year. It was an important producer of rubber in the early 20th century.
Liberia is the only African republic to have self-proclaimed independence without gaining independence through revolt from any other nation, being Africa's first and oldest republic. The country maintained and kept its independence during the European colonial era.
