History of West Africa in this ancient volume clearly show the "Gum Coast", "Grain Coast", "Ivory Coast", and "Gold Coast". Malachy Postlethwayt writes "It is melancholy to observe that a country, which has near ten thousand miles sea-coast, and noble, large, deep rivers, should yet have no navigation; streams penetrating into the very center of the country, but of no benefit to it, innumerable people, without knowledge of each other, correspondence, or commerce." In the Scramble for Africa in the 1880s the Europeans started to colonise the inland of West Africa, they had previously mostly controlled trading ports along the coasts and rivers. Samory
The United Methodist Church in Liberia 20 Districts. A District is smaller than an Annual Conference and contain anywhere from 10 to 40 churches depending on where it is situated. Thus, the 20 Districts that make up the Liberia Annual Conference can be found geographically all parts of Liberia with concentration in west, central and south-eastern Liberia. In total, the Liberia Annual Conference has about five hundred local churches that make up the conference. The 20 Districts of the Annual Conference include: The Liberia Annual Conference, United Methodist Church operates from a central office from which the work of the church is coordinated all across Liberia.