Founding of the Colony — Monrovia, 1822
By 1822, a permanent settlement had been established at Cape Mesurado, in what is now Montserrado County. In 1824, the capital was named Monrovia in honor of President James Monroe. The colony was formally named Liberia, derived from the Latin for ‘free land’.
Growth and Consolidation
Additional colonization societies sent their own groups: the Virginia Colonization Society established a settlement in Grand Bassa County; the Mississippi Colonization Society settled in Sinoe County; and the Maryland Colonization Society established a settlement in Maryland County. In 1838, most of these settlements now home to an estimated 20,000 people, formally combined into a single entity with Monrovia as the capital.
Relations with Indigenous Peoples
Relations with the surrounding indigenous peoples remained contentious throughout this period. The settlers built fortifications, engaged in armed conflicts with neighboring communities, and steadily pushed the colony’s territorial claims outward. The indigenous populations experienced the expansion of the colony as an ongoing dispossession of land and sovereignty that had been theirs for centuries.
Sources:
Library of Congress — History of Liberia Timeline [11];
Wikipedia — Colony of Liberia [4];
History.state.gov [6]