colony · West Africa

Mississippi-in-Africa

1835 CE – 1842 CE · capital Greenville

A short-lived colony on the Sinoe river in Liberia, settled by freed slaves from Mississippi plantations, which merged into Liberia in 1842.

Origins

The Mississippi Colonization Society, founded by planters in the 1830s, established a colony at the mouth of the Sinoe river in 1835. Its first town was Greenville. The best-known emigrants, people freed under the will of the planter Isaac Ross, could leave only after his heirs had fought the will in court for years, and reached Greenville in the late 1840s, after the colony had joined Liberia.

Rule and society

The colony was small and poorly supplied, run by agents of the society with settler leaders. Settlers farmed and traded with the Kru people of the coast, but disease, shortages and conflict with local communities made life hard, and the colony depended on help from other settlements.

Decline and legacy

In 1842 Mississippi-in-Africa, unable to survive alone, joined the Commonwealth of Liberia, and it later became Sinoe County of the Republic of Liberia, with Greenville as its capital, a name the county seat still bears.

Lineage

Mississippi-in-AfricaColony of Liberia 1822 CE – 1847 CE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Mississippi-in-Africa. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mississippi-in-africa
MLA
“Mississippi-in-Africa.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mississippi-in-africa. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Mississippi-in-Africa.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mississippi-in-africa.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Mississippi-in-Africa’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mississippi-in-africa (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻