Fish Town is the capital city of

River Gee County River Gee is a county in the southern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Fish Town serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring . ...

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

. As of the 2008 national census, the population stood at 3,328.

Origin

Fish Town earned its name after a nearby creek, called Neseme. In the

Grebo language Grebo is a Kru language The Kru languages are spoken by the Kru people from the southeast of Liberia to the west of Ivory Coast. Classification According to Güldemann (2018), Kru lacks sufficient lexical resemblances and noun class resemb ...

, ''Ne'' () is water or river/creek and ''Seme'' . Initially, Fish Town was called Nesemekon or "on top of Neseme" consistent with the Grebo naming convention for towns and villages. Later, the use of English became compulsory and speaking Palipo or other dialects was prohibited. English was required on school campuses and students translated the name of the town into English renaming Nesemekon to Fish Town.

Other information

Created in 2000, River Gee County is one of the five southeastern counties. Its population is largely Grebo. The interior was mapped in 1933, during the administration of President

Edwin J. Barclay Edwin James Barclay (5 January 1882 – 6 November 1955) was a Liberian politician, poet, and musician who served as the 18th president of Liberia from 1930 until 1944. He was a member of the True Whig political party, which dominated the politic ...

, and divided into three provinces: Eastern, Central, and Western. Until 2000, River Gee and Grand Gedeh Counties were separate districts; River Gee came out of

Webbo District Webbo District (Nyaake) was a district of River Gee County, Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Gui ...

that was administered by Maryland County and Grand Gedeh came out of

Tchien District Tchien District is one of three districts located in Grand Gedeh County, Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its ...

administered by Sinoe County. Both composed the Eastern Province, which in 1964 became Grand Gedeh.

References

River Gee County County capitals in Liberia {{Liberia-geo-stub