More Peculiar Place for Liberia : Gabon

Ridwan Asher

You know what, placing Liberia in the place it was put on rather seems semi-random. Due to its proximity to the Slave Coast and few other reasons, Liberia was established in its OTL location. But it seems to me that any place in-the-middle-of-nowhere enough would suffice.

And the second reason being Liberia-in-Namibia trope has become sufficiently cliche.

French established their presence there IOTL was also by chance, so I wonder if it was possible to make US feels like shipping their freed-slaves there. Unlike Liberia and let alone Namibia, Gabon is a future den of resource, and pretty much next door to Congo. It really intrigues me as to how Liberia-in-Gabon will role in the later rubber-craze, especially if it can be viewed by powers as compromisial solution regarding the region.....
 

wolf_brother

Banned
Except that any place in-the-middle-of-nowhere wouldn't be a viable colony, and would die within a year at most - which is exactly what the American Colonization Society didn't want.

I'm not sure Gabon in particular would be viable for repatriated African-Americans. iirc many of them were just as likely to die from malaria and other tropical diseases as European-Americans were.

EDIT: Though, as you say, the rubber boom might be enough of an impetus to keep the colony going, though ultimately it'd just be a death sentence for thousands of former slaves and the whole thing would likely collapse during the first rubber bust in the 1830s. Still, lots of interesting and potential butterflies here, especially the more I think about it. Do you have a particular POD in mind?
 
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Nugax

If OTL Liberia was tough, Gabon is a hellscape. I'd expect most the transplanted African Americans to be dead within a year due to the harsher terrain, worse disease load, and greater divergence from the crops they're experienced with.
 

Falecius

IIRC, Gabon was actually the spot chosen by the French for their own freed slave population settlement, hence the name Libreville (meaning "Free Town") for its capital. I am not sure about the timeframe though, and I'm under the impression that the venture left little trace if any.
 
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