Grand Kru County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the southeastern portion of

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 Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast� ...

. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has eighteen

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. Organized in 1984, its capital is

Barclayville Barclayville is the capital and most populous settlement in Grand Kru County, located in southeastern Liberia about 10 miles inland from Picinicess. As of the 2008 national census, the population stood at 2,733. The Barclayville township strad ...

. The area of the county measures . As of the 2008 Census, it had a population of 57,106, making it the least populous county in Liberia. Grand Kru's County Superintendent is Rosalind Sneh. The county is bordered by River Gee County to the northeast,

Sinoe County Sinoe is one of Liberia's 15 counties and it has 17 districts. Greenville is the county's capital. As of the 2008 Census, it had a population of 104,932, making it one of the least populous counties in Liberia. Sinoe has the third-largest area o ...

to the northwest, and

Maryland County Maryland County is a county in the southeastern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has two districts. Harper serves as the capital with the area of the county mea ...

to the southeast. The southern part of Grand Kru borders the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

History

Grand Kru was created in 1984/1985 by the merger of the territories of

Sasstown Sasstown is a town in the Sasstown District of Grand Kru County, Liberia. The population is 500. The town is served by Sasstown Airport Sasstown Airport is an airport serving Sasstown in Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republi ...

and Kru Coast. Kru Coast territory had previously been part of Maryland County, and Sasstown territory had previously been part of Sinoe county. As of the 1984 Census, the county had a population of 62,791. A UN Mission in Liberia report issued in April 2005 estimated that the population was 71,000.

Demographics

The primary language is

Kru KRU was a Malaysian pop boy band formed in 1992. The group comprises three brothers, namely Datuk Norman Abdul Halim, Datuk Yusry Abdul Halim and Edry Abdul Halim'. Apart from revolutionising the Malaysian music scene with their blend of pop, ...

, which is spoken in several significantly different dialects around the county. Some areas identify their language as Buah and Kplio.

Liberian English Liberian English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Liberia. There are four such varieties: * Standard Liberian English , the Liberian variety of International English. It is the language taught in secondary and tertiary institutions ...

is the language of school instruction.

Districts

The county is divided into four districts: *

Buah District Buah District is one of four districts located in Grand Kru County Grand Kru County is a Counties of Liberia, county in the southeastern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the Administrative division, first-level of administr ...

* Lower Kru Coast District * Sasstown District * Upper Kru Coast District

Economy

The area has few roads so it has had limited business or residential development. Because of the long period of war since the late 20th century, few investments were made in infrastructure. In June 2005 the UN Integrated Regional Information Network reported that the roads in Grand Kru had decayed and become overgrown by dense bush, rendering them impassable except on foot. The bridge across the Nu River near Barclayville was constructed after the warfare to link the major trade route from Pleebo to Barclayville. The residents have a subsistence farming economy, based on slash-and-burn techniques of clearing the bush. The most important crops are upland

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

, palm nuts, and along the coast, fishing. Feed

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

is grown at higher elevations farther inland.

Sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

and several varieties of

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", disting ...

s grow in the wetland areas. Cash crops include

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter an ...

and

kola KOLA (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Redlands, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. It is owned by the Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation and it airs a classic hits radio form ...

. Locally grown

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

and piassava palm are widely used for construction, mats and baskets. Many tropical fruits, domestic and wild, grow in the region including

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

s, limes,

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...

soursop Soursop (also called ''graviola, guyabano'', and in Hispanic America, ''guanábana'') is the fruit of ''Annona muricata'', a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree. It is native to the tropical regions of the Americas and the Caribbean and is wi ...

breadfruit Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family ( Moraceae) believed to be a domesticated descendant of '' Artocarpus camansi'' originating in New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, and the Phil ...

and

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

. The people keep

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, qu ...

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...

and

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s to supplement their diets and to use for their products; the animals are found in and around most villages. Most animals are of pygmy variety, as larger varieties die quickly due to the heat and humidity. Prior to the civil war, the region's extensive

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s contained a wide variety of wildlife including

wild pig A wild pig may be: *Suina, a suborder of even-toed mammals, including: **Suidae, a family of animals that are pigs or pig-like, including the Suinae and more distantly related extinct Old World tribes ***Suinae, a subfamily which includes the ''S ...

s, bongo,

dik-dik A dik-dik is the name for any of four species of small antelope in the genus ''Madoqua'' that live in the bushlands of eastern and southern Africa. Dik-diks stand about at the shoulder, are long, weigh and can live for up to 10 years. Dik- ...

pangolin Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (, from Ancient Greek ϕολιδωτός – "clad in scales"). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', ''Phataginus'', and '' Smuts ...

civet A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species diversit ...

, pygmy hippo, African buffalo and

colobus monkey Black-and-white colobuses (or colobi) are Old World monkeys of the genus ''Colobus'', native to Africa. They are closely related to the red colobus monkeys of genus '' Piliocolobus''. There are five species of this monkey, and at least eight subs ...

, all of which are hunted for food and hides. Also found are

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

s, and very small populations of forest

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...

s and

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

s. The warfare disrupted their habitats; in addition, many animals were killed in the course of the war and their populations have fallen.

Notable people

* Julius Wesseh Nah, footballer

References

External links

More information on Grebo and Liberian languagesCounty Development AgendaPlace name codes
Humanitarian Info {{Authority control Counties of Liberia 1984 establishments in Liberia