A locality was already inhabited while it was known as Cape Mesurado by Portuguese sailors in the 1560s, but a city was non established until April 1822, when Providence Island (now linked to the city center per bridge) was number 1 settled by the American Colonization Society as a haven for freed slaves from a United States & the British West Indies, when well as several of the famed Brownish-red rebel, & was known as for James Monroe, then President of the United States.

Monrovia is Liberia's big city & its administrative, commercial message, & financial center. A city's economy is dominated by its harbor, which was substantially expanded by U.S. forces during World War II. A independent exportation come latex and iron ore. A harbor besides has extensive storage & ship repair facilities. Manufactures include cement, refined petroleum, food products, bricks and tiles, furniture, and chemicals.

Attractions inside Monrovia include a Liberian National Museum, the okay, ruined Masonic Temple, the Waterside Market, (currently closed) cultural centre on Providence Island and many beaches. These are too residence to the zoo, the University of Liberia and Cuttington College and Divinity School (Episcopal).

Boats hyperlink a city sustaining Greenville and Harper, but the nigh drome is Roberts International Airport, 60 kilometre (Forty mi) away at Robertsfield.

A city was severely damaged in the Liberian Civil War, with numerous buildings gutted. Major battles occurred between Samuel Doe's government and Prince Johnson's forces in 1990 and with a NPFL's assault on the city in 1992. The bequest of the war occurs as big people of homeless children and youths, either with been included in the fight or even denied an education by it.