Bushrod Island is an island near Monrovia, Liberia surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Saint Paul River, the Mesurado River, and Stockton Creek. It contains the Freeport of Monrovia, the major national port of Liberia, and a variety of businesses. It also contains numerous residential areas and government buildings.
Mostly a low-lying Mangrove swamp, Bushrod Island was occupied by the Dei people from the 16th century until the early 19th century. Gawulun was the chief town of the Dei on the island and served as the capital of the Dei when “King Peter” was selected as the chief spokesman for his fellow Dei chiefs in 1819.
The island is named after Bushrod Washington a nephew of Gorge Washington and the first president of the American colonization society, The ACS which was active during the first part of the 19th century, advocated the emigration to Africa of free and enslaved African American.
In the late 1820s, the community of New Georgia was established on Bushrod Island by people who had been freed from a slave ship in 1820 and kept in Georgia in the United States until 1827.
The Freeport of Monrovia is the main commercial port facility in the West African nation of Liberia. It was artificially created on Bushrod Island near Monrovia in 1948. The facility contains four piers and one main wharf with four berths. The port also has tanker facilities and a fishery pier.
The Saint Paul River is a river of western Africa. Its headwaters are in south-eastern Guinea. Its upper portion in Guinea is known as the Diani River or Niandi River and forms part of the boundary between Guinea and Liberia.
Mesurado River is a river of Liberia. It flows through the capital of Monrovia and is crossed by the People’s Bridge, built in the 1970s.
