Buchanan ( Bassa : Gbezohn ), also previously known as Grand Bassa on some maps, is the third largest city in Liberia , lying on Waterhouse Bay, part of the Atlantic Ocean . As of the 2008 census, Buchanan had a population of 34,270. Of this, 16,984 were male and 17,286 female.
11-605: Named for Thomas Buchanan , cousin of U.S. president James Buchanan , and second governor of Liberia, it is also the capital of Grand Bassa County and lies 70 miles (110 km) southeast of Monrovia , near the mouth of the Saint John River . The town was popular with refugees during the Liberian Civil War as it largely escaped the fighting. Fishing is an important industry in the town. The town also has isolated beaches and lagoons. In December 1832,
22-460: A memorandum of understanding to build a manufacturing zone outside the southern port of Buchanan which would produce 50,000 jobs. This is in addition to an undisclosed amount of low-interest loans, debt relief and other incentives. 05°52′51″N 10°02′48″W / 5.88083°N 10.04667°W / 5.88083; -10.04667 Thomas Buchanan (Governor of Liberia) Thomas Buchanan (November 19, 1808 – September 3, 1841)
33-586: Is Julia Bono . The county is bordered by Margibi County to the northwest, Bong County to the north, Nimba County to the east, and Rivercess County to the south and east. The western part of Grand Bassa borders the Atlantic Ocean . The port of Buchanan was constructed by LAMCO to serve the export of iron ore carried through the railway from Nimba . The civil war destroyed the port, railway, and township built by LAMCO. In 2005, LAMCO's facilities were taken over by Arcelor-Mittal , which has begun
44-575: Is a county in the west-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia . One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has eight districts . Buchanan serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring 3,064 square miles (7,940 km ). As of the 2022 Census, it had a population of 293,557, making it the sixth most populous county in Liberia. Grand Bassa's County Superintendent
55-613: The Indigenous Bassa people destroyed the Americo-Liberian colony of Port Cresson. A month later, a new colony called Bassa Cove was founded by black Quakers of the Young Men's Colonization Society of Pennsylvania. The Bassa Cove colony was incorporated into Liberia on April 1, 1839. Throughout much of the 1850s, Buchanan's population failed to grow, as deaths outnumbered births and only through immigration from
66-583: The Port Cresson colony was founded in what is now Buchanan by black Quakers from the New York and Pennsylvania colonization societies. It was established as a settlement for black emigrants from the United States . The emigrants named the settlement in honor of Elliott Cresson, a Philadelphia merchant and Pennsylvania Colonization Society founder who funded their voyage to Liberia. In June 1835,
77-513: The Port of Buchanan. Africa's first iron-ore washing and pelletizing plant was opened in Buchanan in 1968. This plant was severely damaged during the first Liberian civil war (1989-1996). Stephen Ellis writes that during early 1994, ECOMOG '..Nigerian troops dismantled, and exported as second-hand plant or as scrap metal, industrial equipment worth some $ 50 million' which had remained intact when
88-561: The United States was the community able to avoid a substantial decline. Buchanan is the port for the 155 miles (250 km) railway that brings iron ore from the mines at Yekepa , Nimba County . Originally built by the now defunct Liberian-American-Swedish Minerals Company ( LAMCO ), the rail line has now (as of 2012) been revitalized by the Arcelor Mittal Company. Rubber and palm oil once were also shipped out of
99-614: The port had earlier been occupied by the National Patriotic Front of Liberia , Charles Taylor 's faction. It is reported that the plant was later sold off as scrap metal to a Chinese buyer in 2010. Buchanan Renewable Energies, a firm based in Toronto , Canada , that processes chips from rubber tree trunks into biofuel , has begun operations in the city. According to the managing-director of Liberia's National Port Authority, Togba Ngangana, Chinese investors have signed
110-860: Was an American politician and diplomat who served as the first official governor of Liberia for the American Colonization Society . He was a relative of James Buchanan , who later became the 15th president of the United States . Buchanan served in the 1830s as the envoy of the American Colonization Society (ACS) to the colony of Liberia, which was founded by the ACS on the coast in West Africa in 1821. He worked first as an administrator in Grand Bassa before moving to Monrovia in 1839. On April 1, Buchanan
121-456: Was appointed as the first governor of the colony, serving until his death on September 3, 1841. He died from a fever—either yellow fever or malaria —and is buried in Monrovia. He is the namesake of Buchanan, Liberia , the seat of Grand Bassa County . This article about a Liberian politician is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Grand Bassa Grand Bassa
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