Liberia's story does not begin like most others in this atlas. For centuries the Kru, Vai, Gola, and other peoples of this stretch of West African coast and forest governed themselves in fragmented, independent communities, with no say whatsoever in what came next: in 1822, the American Colonization Society began landing free-born and formerly enslaved Black Americans at Cape Mesurado, a controversial and deeply contested project even among abolitionists. What followed is nonetheless a genuine milestone — on 26 July 1847 the settlers' Commonwealth declared itself the Republic of Liberia, Africa's first republic and the only African state never formally colonized by a European power.
The flag chosen at that 1847 independence — eleven red-and-white stripes for the eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence, a blue canton with a single white star, deliberately modeled on the flag of the United States — has not changed since, through a century of Americo-Liberian settler dominance over the indigenous majority, a 1980 coup, two devastating civil wars, and the peace that has held since 2003.
Scope of this page: the lands of present-day Liberia, c. 1000–present, six political entities. The pre-1822 entry covers indigenous polities that had no involvement in or say over the colonization that followed — a genuinely different story from most of this atlas, and one this page states plainly rather than glossing over. From 1822 onward the lineage is single and continuous: American Colonization Society settlement, then Commonwealth, then Republic, with no internal partition. Part of a larger atlas — see the map and linked pages at the bottom.
One border, six rulers
Liberia's own real border, traced whole — this page has no internal split to show honestly. Press play, or drag the slider, to watch who held all of it, era to era.
The Americo-Liberian settler elite dominated politics for over a century without ever creating a second, separately-flagged territory. Political power stayed concentrated in coastal settler communities while the indigenous interior held little formal say for generations — a real and significant inequality, documented plainly in the timeline below — but it was never expressed as two separate flags or governments. What changes here is only who ruled all of it at once.
c. 1000
Indigenous Kru, Vai, Gola, and neighboring peoples
Real traced border (Natural Earth 50m via ADM0_A3=LBR), no internal partition — see the rule box above for why. Neighbor labels are approximate.
How we know this. 6 of 6 eras on this page carry an evidence panel (3 attested, 1 placeholder image, 2 not yet checked). Only the ones marked attested are confirmed by the sources named under them; where sources disagree or a claim could not be confirmed, the panel says so.
eleven red-and-white stripes, blue canton, single white star — unchanged since 1847
2003 – present
Republic of Liberia (postwar)
Republic, independentGyude BryantSecular (no state religion)
Who & why: the August 2003 Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement ends the second civil war and forces Charles Taylor into exile; a transitional government oversees disarmament until Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wins election in 2005, taking office in January 2006 as Africa's first elected female head of state. Reconciliation is slow and incomplete — a Truth and Reconciliation Commission reports in 2009, and instability, an Ebola epidemic (2014–16), and continued poverty all test the peace — but the republic itself holds, with successive peaceful transfers of power through the 2010s and 2020s.
What it represents: the same 1847 flag, carried through the postwar period without alteration, its eleven stripes and single star now standing for a republic rebuilding rather than one at war. Wikipedia says an April 1961 law fixed the design and the Deshield Commission (1974-1978) recommended no flag changes; the sources read do not discuss the postwar period.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia: the April 1961 law specifies eleven alternating red and white stripes and a blue canton with a white star; the Deshield Commission (1974-1978) recommended no changes. Flags of the World (last modified 2026) describes the current flag as eleven red and white stripes with a blue canton bearing a white five-pointed star under the Flag Law of 11 April 1961, introduced on 26 July 1847.
Not established: Neither source discusses the postwar years; that the flag was unchanged since 2003 rests on both describing the same design as the present flag. The meaning of the stripes as eleven signatories is a FOTW contributor's.
Paint guide
Proportions10:19, as fixed at adoption in 1847.
LayoutEleven horizontal stripes (six red, five white, red top and bottom); blue square canton in the upper hoist bearing one white five-pointed star.
Red#BF0A30
Blue#002868
White#F4EFE1
the same 1847 flag, flown over a nation at war with itself
1980 – 2003
Republic of Liberia (coup and civil war)
Republic, civil conflictSamuel DoeSecular (no state religion)
Who & why: on 12 April 1980, Master Sergeant Samuel Doe leads a violent coup that kills President William R. Tolbert and ends 133 years of Americo-Liberian political dominance, but Doe's own increasingly repressive rule collapses into open war when Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front invades in December 1989. The first civil war (1989–97) and the second (1999–2003) together kill an estimated quarter-million people and displace far more, drawing in regional peacekeepers and, eventually, UN forces.
What it represents: the flag adopted in 1847 does not change through any of this — no faction in either war replaces the national banner, and the eleven stripes and single star fly, at least nominally, over a state fighting for its survival. The sources read do not mention the flag in 1980-2003 either way: Wikipedia reports the 1978 commission recommending no change, and neither source covers the civil-war years.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia: Deshield Commission reported 24 January 1978 that no flag changes were recommended. Flags of the World's governmental-flags page carries a contributor note that German television in 2003 showed Charles Taylor with the presidential flag and the national flag, and its military-flags page mentions the 1997 disbanding of the armed forces and the ECOMOG force.
Not established: No source states what the national flag was in 1980-2003 beyond that one 2003 report, and neither says no faction replaced it. The 1961 law stayed the flag law, but the silence of the sources is not evidence of no change.
Paint guide
Proportions10:19.
LayoutUnchanged from 1847: eleven stripes, blue canton, single white star.
Red#BF0A30
Blue#002868
White#F4EFE1
eleven red-and-white stripes, blue canton, single white star - the 1847 flag, sewn by a committee of women
1847 – 1980
Republic of Liberia (Americo-Liberian era)
Republic, independentJoseph Jenkins RobertsNo established state church (Protestant settler elite)
Who & why: on 26 July 1847 the Commonwealth declares itself the independent Republic of Liberia, Africa's first republic and the only African state never formally colonized by a European power — a genuine and distinctive milestone. But the republic's politics remain dominated for the whole of this era by the small settler-descended Americo-Liberian elite, governing through the True Whig Party over an indigenous majority who hold little formal political power until well into the 20th century; that imbalance runs unbroken until the 1980 coup ends it by force.
What it represents: a flag designed by a committee of seven Liberian women and adopted at independence: eleven red-and-white stripes for the eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence, a blue canton with one white star, deliberately modeled on the Stars and Stripes given the settlers' own American origins. Sources differ on the date: Wikipedia has independence declared on 26 July 1847 and the flag adopted and unfurled on 24 August 1847; Flags of the World says an Annex to the Constitution established the flag on 16 June 1847 and names Susanna Waring-Lewis as committee chair. Neither source says the design was deliberately modelled on the US flag, and Flags of the World lists the eleven stripes as the eleven signers or the eleven convention delegates.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia: 26 July 1847 independence declared; flag adopted and unfurled in Monrovia 24 August 1847; seven US-born women stitched it; eleven stripes for the signers of the Declaration of Independence; star for the first independent African republic. FOTW: 16 June 1847 Annex established six red and five white stripes, blue canton and white star; Susanna Waring-Lewis chaired the committee; eleven stripes for signers (or convention delegates).
Not established: Adoption date differs (16 June vs 24 August 1847); 'modelled deliberately on the US flag' is not stated by either source.
Paint guide
Proportions10:19, fixed at adoption.
LayoutEleven horizontal stripes (six red, five white, red top and bottom); blue square canton, upper hoist, one white five-pointed star.
Red#BF0A30
Blue#002868
White#F4EFE1
the ACS colonial banner, adopted 1827: US stripes, a white cross in place of stars
1839 – 1847
Commonwealth of Liberia
CommonwealthJoseph Jenkins RobertsNo established state church (Protestant settler elite)
Migration & conquest:Immigration: continued ACS settlement (1839–47)
Who & why: in 1839 the American Colonization Society reorganizes its scattered coastal settlements into the Commonwealth of Liberia, a single quasi-self-governing unit with an appointed governor (from 1841, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first Black man to hold the post) and its own legislature, still nominally under Society oversight. The arrangement proves transitional: settler leaders increasingly chafe at foreign trading tariffs the Commonwealth cannot enforce as a non-sovereign entity, a grievance that helps push the move to full independence in 1847.
What it represents: the Commonwealth continues to fly the 1827 colonial banner — the Society's US-derived stripes with a white cross in the canton — through this entire period, unchanged until independence replaces it outright. Wikipedia instead says the US flag was used by the Commonwealth's first government until 26 April 1845; neither source describes a Commonwealth flag for 1839-1847.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia: 9 April 1827 resolution set a US-pattern flag with a white cross in place of the stars; US flag used by the Commonwealth's first government until 26 April 1845. Flags of the World (page on the 1827-1847 flag, citing Smith 1980): Liberia had had a flag since 1827, the US flag with a white cross for the stars, which was altered to eleven stripes and a single white star on 26 July 1847; a Liberian ship flying it was seized by the British in 1845.
Not established: The two sources differ: FOTW has the cross flag in use through 1847, Wikipedia has the Commonwealth's government using the US flag until April 1845. Neither describes a Commonwealth flag as such for 1839-1847, so the page's 'through the entire period' is only supported by FOTW's citation of Smith.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed civil ratio recorded; shown at 3:2.
LayoutThirteen horizontal red-and-white stripes (US-derived); blue canton bearing a white cross in place of stars, per the ACS board's 1827 resolution.
Red#BF0A30
Blue#002868
White#F4EFE1
Cape Mesurado settlement, first flown under the US flag, then this 1827 banner
1822 – 1839
American Colonization Society settlement
Colonial settlementJehudi AshmunNo established state church (Protestant settler elite)
Who & why: in 1822 the American Colonization Society, a US organization whose members ranged from abolitionists who saw resettlement as a path to freedom to slaveholders who wanted free Black Americans removed from the country — a plan many free Black Americans themselves actively opposed as a deportation scheme — begins landing free-born and formerly enslaved settlers at Cape Mesurado. The settlement is named Monrovia, after US President James Monroe, and is governed for its first years directly by white agents of the Society, not by the settlers themselves.
What it represents: the earliest settlement flew the flag of the United States itself; on 9 April 1827 the ACS board adopted a distinct colonial banner — the Society resolved to keep the US flag's stripes but "omit the stars and substitute a white cross," making the design similar enough to signal dependence on the US, yet distinct enough to mark the African colony as its own. Wikipedia's page reports the 9 April 1827 resolution (US stripes, white cross for the stars) but does not tie it to the American Colonization Society or cover Cape Mesurado in 1822; the sources read do not state that the US flag was flown there first.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia: the 9 April 1827 resolution created the first colonial flag (US pattern, white cross in the canton); African Americans began arriving in 1822. Flags of the World (page on the 1827-1847 flag) quotes the resolution of the American Colonization Society board of 9 April 1827: a flag was requested for the colony at Liberia, to be as like the US flag as possible yet distinct, 'omitting the stars and substituting therefore a white cross in the center of the azure field'; its main page says the colony's flag had a cross in the upper-left corner.
Not established: That the US flag itself flew at Cape Mesurado from 1822 until 1827 is not stated by either source. The FOTW quote is a contributor's transcription of part of the resolution, with no addressee.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded; shown at 3:2.
LayoutThirteen red-and-white stripes; blue canton with a white cross, adopted by ACS board resolution, 9 April 1827.
Red#BF0A30
Blue#002868
White#F4EFE1
placeholder maroon field — fragmented pre-colonial era, no unifying flag
c. 1000 – 1822
Indigenous Kru, Vai, Gola, and neighboring peoples
Fragmented politiesNo single ruler documentedNo single state religion
Who & why: for centuries before 1822, the coast and forest of what is now Liberia are home to the Kru, Vai, Gola, Kpelle, Bassa, and other peoples, organized into independent towns, chiefdoms, and trading networks rather than any single unifying state. The Vai develop their own indigenous syllabary in the early 19th century, one of the few writing systems created from scratch in West Africa. None of these communities had any involvement in, or say over, the American Colonization Society's decision to begin settling free-born and formerly enslaved Black Americans on this coast in 1822 — a genuinely different story from most of the rest of this atlas.
What it represents: no securely documented flag unifies these communities, because no single polity ever governed them together; each town and chiefdom used its own local emblems and none survive as a fixed territorial banner. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.
Placeholder imagehow we know this
This page's own caption calls the image a placeholder: «placeholder maroon field — fragmented pre-colonial era, no unifying flag».
Not established: Whether a flag, banner or standard existed in this period was not checked. The colour shown is not evidence of one.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested unifying flag.
Reading the tags
Fragmented polities — no single governing authority
Colonial settlement — governed by external society agents
Commonwealth — quasi-self-governing, still under oversight
Republic, independent — sovereign under its own constitution
Republic, civil conflict — sovereign, but at open war internally
Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start
State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's
Find the records
Family history research for Liberia lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.