The streets of Liberia's capital read like a roll call of American history—and that's no accident. Monrovia (Globle: Capitals answer for Dec 29) is perhaps the only city in Africa where you can stroll down Broad Street and pass landmarks that seem to echo the nation's founding by freed African Americans. Established in 1822 by the American Colonization Society, the city was named after President James Monroe, and this transatlantic connection appears woven into its very grid.

Downtown Monrovia includes streets such as Ashmun Street and Carey Street—names that parallel key figures in the colony's founding. Jehudi Ashmun served as the settlement's de facto governor from 1822 to 1828, while Lott Cary was a formerly enslaved Baptist minister from Virginia who emigrated to Liberia in 1821 and founded Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia.

The naming practice reflects the complex and contradictory history of Liberia's founding. The American Colonization Society comprised an uneasy alliance of abolitionists who genuinely sought freedom for formerly enslaved people and slaveholders who simply wanted to remove free Black Americans from the country. Whatever their origins, the street names serve as markers of this fraught history.

Today, these American-echoing names coexist with later additions honoring Liberian leaders and African heritage, creating a layered urban landscape that tells the story of a nation shaped by migration, colonialism, and the long struggle for self-determination.

Learn more: BlackPast.org

Monday, December 29 to Sunday, January 4.

The following are the shortest paths from last week:

Play Forgeous for Jan 5