The President is known formally as Dahkpannah Charles Ghankay Taylor. Dahkpannah means “Supreme Zo,” the title given to the ultimate chief of all sixteen of Liberia’s indigenous tribes. Ghankay, Taylor’s name from his mother’s tribe, the Gola, means “Strong in the face of adversity.” The English, Christian part of his name, Charles Taylor, is quintessentially Liberian; the country also abounds with Buchanans, Coopers, Johnsons, and Sawyers, and some years ago there was even a general named George Washington. Members of the ruling class in Liberia have traditionally been descendants of the African-Americans who began settling on the wild shores of West Africa’s Grain Coast in the eighteen-twenties. They were sponsored by the American Colonization Society, which was implementing a “back to Africa” policy for freed slaves. Gradually, after years of hardship from disease and warfare with the indigenous population, the Americo-Liberians, as they were called, secured a coastal foothold and voted for self-rule. They formed the True Whig Party and chose “The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here” as their national motto. In 1847, Liberia (for “liberty”) became Africa’s first republic. Its capital, Monrovia, was named for James Monroe.
Writer: Jon Lee Anderson
Length: 6747 words
Source: The New Yorker
Published: July 27th, 1998
