Counties of Liberia

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Updates: 

ISO 3166-2 has come out in a second edition, dated 2007-12-15. This contains the ISO codes for the two new counties, as shown below.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns new FIPS codes to the two new Liberian counties, and changes the codes for the old counties from which they were formed.

I found more details for the change history in Stefan von Gnielinski, "Liberia in Maps: Graphic Perspectives of a Developing Country", Africana Publishing Co., N.Y. 1972.

The Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa, a branch of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reports the formation of a new county called River Gee. It comprises six districts, and was formed out of Grand Gedeh county. Since 1976, there had been calls for the creation of a new county in southern Grand Gedeh by Grebos, who said they felt marginalised by the Krahns, according to Liberian Information Minister Joe Mulbah. The capital of the new county is Fish Town.

Paraskevas Renesis has informed me that the Senate created a fifteenth county on 2000-09-14, with an effective date in ~2001-01. The new county was formed from lower Lofa county. It is named Gbarpolu, and its capital is Bopolu. According to the Liberia Contemporary Voice , Gbarpolu has a population of about 200,000 and an area of 2,982 mi.² (7,723 km.²).

Country overview: 

Liberia has been an independent country during the entire 20th century.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Liberia
2. Dutch: Liberia, Republiek Liberia (formal)
3. English: Republic of Liberia (formal)
4. Finnish: Liberia
5. French: Libéria, Liberia m
6. German: Liberia n
7. Icelandic: Líbería
8. Italian: Liberia f
9. Norwegian: Liberia, Republikken Liberia (formal)
10. Portuguese: Libéria, República f da Libéria f (formal)
11. Spanish: Liberia, República f de Liberia (formal)
12. Swedish: Liberia

Origin of name: 

Latin liber: free + -ia (suffix for country); founded by freed American slaves

Primary subdivisions: 

Liberia is divided into fifteen counties.

Postal codes: 

Liberia uses four-digit postal codes. They don't seem to be in regular use.

Change history: 

1. 1839-01-05: Under the Constitution adopted on that date, Liberia was divided into two counties: Grand Bassa and Montserrado.
2. ~1843: Sinoe county created.
3. 1847-07-26: Under the Constitution of 1847, Liberia was divided into Grand Bassa, Grand Cape Mount, Maryland, Montserrado, and Sinoe counties; Marshall territory; and Central, Eastern, and Western provinces. The three provinces have generally been referred to collectively as the interior region; the rest of the country is the coastal region. For the most part, territories are not mentioned in lists of primary administrative divisions of Liberia. They appear to be subordinate to counties; that is, each territory is contained within a county and is administered from that county's capital. Marshall territory was subordinate to Montserrado county in the 20th century, so that was probably true when it was first formed.
4. 1857: Maryland became a county of Liberia. This area was founded in 1827 by the Maryland State Colonization Society as another place for freed African-American slaves to settle. (Perhaps the 1847 Constitution was indulging in wishful thinking when it included Maryland as one of the counties.)
5. 1911: Liberia ceded Kailahun territory (part of Western province?) to Sierra Leone in exchange for a strip south of the Mano River, which was annexed to Grand Cape Mount county. Now the country consisted of five counties and three provinces. The provinces were each completely divided into districts; one of the counties contained a territory. This table shows the divisions.

1. 1955-02-19: River Cess territory formed from part of Grand Bassa county.
2. ~1960: The 1964 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas says there were four territories. In 1955, there were only two (Marshall and River Cess). Therefore, two more must have been formed around 1960.
3. 1963: The Liberian Supreme Court ruled in 1960 that the division into counties and provinces had resulted in unconstitutional unequal representation. President Tubman announced a reorganization in 1963. County boundaries were adjusted, mainly by extending the coastal counties into the interior. The remainder of Central province split into Bong and Nimba counties. The remainder of Eastern province became Grand Gedeh county. The remainder of Western province became Lofa county. The regions were abolished. The territories, still contained within counties, remained. Secondary divisions called districts were formed, overlapping the county boundaries. The new legislature based on this set of divisions first met on 1964-07-26.
4. ~1970: Capital of Grand Gedeh county renamed from Tchien to Zwedru.
5. ~1982: Gibi territory formed from part of Montserrado county.
6. 1984: At about the beginning of this year, there were six territories. Bomi, Gibi, and Marshall territories were subordinate to Montserrado county; Rivercess territory was subordinate to Grand Bassa county; and Kru Coast and Sass Town territories were subordinate to Maryland county. The census was taken from 1984-02-01 to 1984-02-14. The new constitution was being drawn up, although it didn't come into effect until 1986-01-06. I have two sources for the 1984 census returns. One of them, The Statesman's Year-Book, shows that Bomi, Margibi, and Rivercess counties had all been created. The other, the Europa World Year Book, shows Bomi and Rivercess as counties, but instead of Margibi county it lists the two territories, Marshall and Gibi. Because of this uncertainty in the sequence of events, I list the results of the 1984 census with counties separated from territories.

1. 1984: Bomi territory promoted to county, thus splitting it from Montserrado county.
2. ~1984: Grand Kru county split from Maryland county. It consisted of Kru Coast and Sasstown territories. (One source says 1984, another says 1985.)
3. 1985: Margibi county split from Montserrado county. It consisted of Marshall and Gibi territories. Rivercess territory promoted to county, thus splitting it from Grand Bassa county. The resulting divisions were as follows:

1. 2000-06: River Gee county split from Grand Gedeh (former HASC code LR.GG, FIPS code LI02). This change was approved by House of Representatives in 1998-06, and by the Senate on 2000-03-07.
2. ~2001-01: Gbarpolu county split from Lofa (HASC LR.LO, FIPS LI05).

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Bomi: Bomy (variant)
2. Grand Cape Mount: Cape Mount (variant)
3. Grand Gedeh: Grand Geddeh, Grand Jide (variant)
4. Lofa: Loffa (variant)
5. Maryland: Cape Palmas (variant)
6. Sinoe: Sino, Sinu (variant)