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Journal article
A Maritime Cultural Landscape of Liberia, West Africa
Journal of maritime archaeology, Vol.21(1), 6
03/2026
Web of Science ID: WOS:001668101300001
Abstract
The framework of a maritime cultural landscape (MCL) has long been used and expanded as a holistic tool to understand how people have utilized, interpreted, and constructed their maritime environments through five components: natural havens, shipwrecks, land remains, traditions of use, and place names. This article constructs and analyzes the MCL of Liberia, West Africa, which is a nation historically connected to the coast and to maritime mobility, shipping, and transport. While an early entrant to Atlantic trade, Liberia was the only area of West Africa not to be colonized by Europeans in the nineteenth century. Rather, it was settled in 1822 by free Black emigrants as part of the Back to Africa Movement. During the nineteenth century, Liberia's economy was dependent on maritime trade, and the settlers and Liberia's Indigenous people sustained extensive trade networks both along the coast and across the Atlantic that competed with outside, foreign companies. As a result of this maritime engagement, Liberia maintained a high degree of economic and political sovereignty. The known components of Liberia's MCL suggest potential for future research into unknown aspects of the country's maritime past.
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Details
- Title
- A Maritime Cultural Landscape of Liberia, West Africa
- Publication Details
- Journal of maritime archaeology, Vol.21(1), 6
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Springer Nature; NEW YORK
- Number of pages
- 28
- Grant note
- Institute of Nautical Archaeology Texas AM University
Thanks to Dr. Olivia Thomas for thinking through things related to the MCL and providing feedback on this project. A huge thanks must also be given to the Kru Coast Heritage Initiative team, especially Prince D. S. Kondeh and Samuel D. Togba, and to fishing communities at Settra Kru, Nana Kru, Nuohn Point, Red Hill, and Seebeh, Frank K. Doe, staff at the port of Greenville especially Titus Nyantee, and to the Back to Africa Heritage and Archaeology (BAHA) team. The author's dissertation fieldwork in Liberia was funded by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, the Society for Postmedieval Archaeology, and Texas A&M University. Permission was granted to conduct this research by all communities and countries involved.
- Copyright
- © 2026, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
- Identifiers
- WOS:001668101300001; 99381852697406600
- Academic Unit
- History and Philosophy; College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities
- Language
- English