Liberia declared independence on July 26, 1847, making it the first republic in African history — a nation founded by formerly enslaved Americans repatriated under the auspices of the American Colonization Society. The 150th anniversary fell during a period of acute instability; the country was still recovering from the First Liberian Civil War, which had displaced roughly half the population and gutted state infrastructure through the early 1990s.
The issue was struck for the collector market rather than domestic circulation, a pattern Liberia leaned on heavily through the 1990s to generate foreign exchange.
Liberia declared independence on July 26, 1847, making it the first republic in African history — a nation founded by formerly enslaved Americans repatriated under the auspices of the American Colonization Society. The 150th anniversary fell during a period of acute instability; the country was still recovering from the First Liberian Civil War, which had displaced roughly half the population and gutted state infrastructure through the early 1990s.
The issue was struck for the collector market rather than domestic circulation, a pattern Liberia leaned on heavily through the 1990s to generate foreign exchange.