Barclayville, Grand Kru County, Liberia

🇱🇷 Barclayville is the capital and most populous settlement in Grand Kru County, located in south-eastern Liberia about 10 miles inland from Picinicess. The Barclayville township straddles the banks of the Na River. Roads from Kanweaken to the north-west, Pleebo to the south-east, and to Picinicess and Grand Cess to the south-east, all intersect at Barclayville.

In March 2006 the United Nations reported completion of the Na River bridge at Barclayville, connecting the Kanweaken and Pleebo roads for the first time.

History The modern jurisdiction of Barclayville was created by the administration of President Edwin Barclay in response to the last Kru Wars in the 1930s. As part of the effort to exert central government authority and diminish intertribal conflicts, which had produced devastation, he had four separate villages combined into one township. Until the creation of Barclayville, the constituent villages of Seetor and Kayken, which are occupied by rival chiefdoms, were in periodic conflict. The villages of Seetor, Kayeken and Wakpeken and their "suburbs" are on the north-west side of the Na river, while Topor is on the opposite south bank across from Wakpekan.

Despite the town's large size, most structures are traditional mud-and-stick homes. As of the mid-1980s, when the township was organized, few had running water or electricity. Kplio (a dialect of Grebo) is the primary language of the residents, but English is the official language of instruction in the schools.

The regional high school is in Barclayville, along with several public and private (Christian) schools for grades K-8. Many Christian religious denominations have churches and/or missions in Barclayville including Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and a variety of other evangelical congregations. Most of population also follows local animist practices.

Prior to the Liberian Civil War, much of the male adult population were on government payroll employed as teachers, employees of the courts, or serving as government officials or civil service staff. Upland rice farming is the primary occupation of most adults.

Each village lays claim to large areas of communal land that extend several miles inland from the town. They carry out slash and burn farming, rotating to a new section of land every year in order to allow the soil to recover its fertility. Because of the distance from the villages to these outlying farms, it is common for the women and younger children to live on the farms during the growing season. There the women also establish vegetable gardens and plant cassava. Farming within Barclayville is limited as crops serve as fodder for the freely roaming livestock and fowl, including cows, sheep, goats and chickens.

In June 2005 the UN Integrated Regional Information Regional Network reported that the roads leading to Barclayville had decayed during the years of civil war and become overgrown by dense bush. They were impassable except by foot.

Demographics The primary language is Kru, which is spoken in several significantly different dialects around the county. Some areas identify their language as Buah and Kplio. Liberian English is the language of school instruction.

Districts The county is divided into four districts: • Buah District • Lower Kru Coast District • Sasstown District • Upper Kru Coast District

Economy The area has few roads so it has had limited business or residential development. Because of the long period of war since the late 20th century, few investments were made in infrastructure. In June 2005 the UN Integrated Regional Information Network reported that the roads in Grand Kru had decayed and become overgrown by dense bush, rendering them impassable except on foot. The bridge across the Nu River near Barclayville was constructed after the warfare to link the major trade route from Pleebo to Barclayville.

The residents have a subsistence farming economy, based on slash-and-burn techniques of clearing the bush. The most important crops are upland rice, cassava, palm nuts, and along the coast, fishing. Feed corn is grown at higher elevations farther inland. Sugar cane and several varieties of bananas grow in the wetland areas. Cash crops include coffee, cocoa and kola. Locally grown bamboo and piassava palm are widely used for construction, mats and baskets. Many tropical fruits, domestic and wild, grow in the region including oranges, limes, mangos, soursop, breadfruit and coconut.

The people keep poultry, cattle, sheep and goats to supplement their diets and to use for their products; the animals are found in and around most villages. Most animals are of pygmy variety, as larger varieties die quickly due to the heat and humidity.

Prior to the civil war, the region's extensive rainforests contained a wide variety of wildlife including wild pigs, bongo, dik-dik, pangolin, civet, pygmy hippo, African buffalo and colobus monkey, all of which are hunted for food and hides. Also found are snakes, and very small populations of forest elephants and leopards. The warfare disrupted their habitats; in addition, many animals were killed in the course of the war and their populations have fallen.