Republic of Maryland

Uncommon card · No. 173886

The Republic of Maryland (also known variously as the Independent State of Maryland, Maryland-in-Africa, and Maryland in Liberia) was a country in West Africa that existed from 1834 to 1857, when it was merged into what is now Liberia. The area was first settled in 1834 by freed African-American slaves and freeborn African Americans primarily from the U.S. state of Maryland, under the auspices of the Maryland State Colonization Society. The larger American Colonization Society was founded in 1816. It supported the settlement of thousands of free people of color to its colony of Liberia, in West Africa. There were also initially separate settlements founded by state colonization societies of Mississippi (Mississippi-in-Africa), Kentucky (Kentucky in Africa), Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana. A New Jersey colony was planned. In 1838, these African-American settlements were united into the Commonwealth of Liberia, which declared independence from the American Colonization Society on July...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Government of the Republic of Maryland/Liberia. Image digitized by Jaume Ollé., Public domain