Liberia /laɪˈbɪəriə/ (help·info), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2008 Census, the nation is home to 3,476,608 people and covers 111,369 square kilometers (43,000 sq mi). Liberia has a hot equatorial climate with most rainfall arriving in summer with harsh harmattan winds in the dry season.

Liberia's populated Pepper Coast is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the sparsely populated inland is forested, later opening to a plateau of drier grasslands. The history of Liberia is unique among African nations notably its relations with United States. It was one of two countries in Africa, other than Ethiopia to never been colonized by European powers.

Liberians had contact with European explorers and traders briefly during 1500s-1700s. The towns and counties of Cape Palmas, River Cess (Cestos), Cape Mount and Cape Mesurado were featured on European maps of Africa as early as 1502 beginning with Cantino planisphere, though Liberia itself did not exist in its current form as a country. However as a nation state its modern day roots emerged as a colony founded by freed slaves from the United States.

These freed slaves formed an elite group in Liberian society, and, in 1847, formed a government based on that of the United States, naming their capital city after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States. This government was overthrown by a military-led coup in 1980, which marked the beginning of a period of instability and civil war that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and devastated the country's economy. Today, Liberia is recovering, and despite its poverty and lack of adequate infrastructure, it has experienced economic growth.

Liberia is one of the poorest countries in Africa. The name Liberia denotes "liberty" as Black Americans were sent to Liberia in 1822, and founded the country in 1847 with the support of the American Colonization Society creating a new ethnic group called the Americo-Liberians. However, this introduction of a new ethnic mix resulted in ethnic tensions with the sixteen other main ethnicities.

From 1500s until 1822, European explorers and traders had multiple names for Liberia varying by language. During the Spice trade, in non-English speaking Europe, Liberia was called the Malaguetta Coast or Pepper Coast in English. It earned its name from the malaguetta pepper found in rural Liberia that were dubbed, "Grains of Paradise" since it was a rare spice in high demand throughout continental Europe.

In late 18th century English explorers referred to the country as the Windward Coast because of notoriously unnavigable, choppy waters off Cape Palmas' coast that were difficult for European ships to sail through at the tip of Southern Liberia.

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