Key events in Liberian history beginning with independence in the 19th century:
1847: Country gains independence; draws up U.S.-style constitution.
1926: Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. opens plantation; rubber becomes the backbone of the economy.
1943: William Tubman is elected president; promotes foreign investment and local participation in government.
1971: Tubman dies and William Tolbert Jr. succeeds him.
1980: Tolbert is assassinated in a coup led by Master Sgt. Samuel Doe, who suspends the constitution.
1984: Under pressure from the United States, Doe allows return of political parties.
1985: Doe is elected president.
1989: National Patriotic Front of Liberia, led by Charles Taylor, begins an uprising against the Doe government.
1990: Doe is executed by an offshoot of Taylor's movement.
1995: Economic Community of West African States brokers a peace treaty between two warring movements.
1997: Taylor is elected president.
1999: Britain and the United States threaten to suspend aid after Liberia is accused of supporting militants in neighboring Sierra Leone.
September 2000: Liberian forces launch offensive against rebels in the country's north.
March 2001: United Nations imposes arms embargo to punish Taylor for trading weapons for diamonds with Sierra Leone rebels.
November 2001: Government forces start new offensive against rebels.
April 2003: New rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia, makes gains in southeast.
June 4, 2003: Taylor is indicted for war crimes committed during his involvement in Sierra Leone civil war.
June 17, 2003: Taylor says he will step down under a cease-fire agreement.
June 20, 2003: Taylor renounces his pledge to cede power in Liberia, announcing he will serve to the January 2004 end of his term — and might run again.
June 23-27, 2003: The main rebel group in Liberia — Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy — launch an all-out assault on the capital.
June 28, 2003: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asks the Security Council for an international peace force for Liberia. Two days later, West African leaders ask for 2,000 American troops to head the force.
July 4, 2003: Taylor says he would step down, but only after an international peacekeeping force is deployed. Bush administration says it will send a team of military experts to Africa to assess whether U.S. troops would help stabilize Liberia.
July 6, 2003: Taylor accepts offer of exile in Nigeria, but gives no timeframe for quitting and insists the transition must be orderly.
July 8, 2003: Team of U.S. military experts begin assessment tour. They are mobbed by Liberians pleading for help.
July 19, 2003: After peace efforts crumble, rebels launch a new offensive into the capital.
July 21, 2003: Shelling in city kills at least 25. A team of U.S. Marines arrives to protect the embassy.
July 22, 2003: Rebel leaders announce a cease-fire but fighting continues in Monrovia. For the next two weeks, rebels and government troops battle over the city port and nearby strategic bridges.
Aug. 1, 2003: The U.N. Security Council votes to authorize a multinational force to help end fighting in Liberia. Taylor promises to resign Aug. 11.
Aug. 4, 2003: Nigerian troops arrive at vanguard of what is to be a 3,250-strong peacekeeping force.
Aug. 6, 2003: Seven U.S. Marines arrive in Monrovia from three-ship Navy group offshore to help peacekeepers. President Bush says larger force will not arrive until Taylor leaves the country.
Aug. 7, 2003: Taylor names Vice President Moses Blah to take over Liberia, rebels warn they will not accept Blah because he is a close Taylor ally.
Aug. 11, 2003: Taylor resigns and hands over power to Blah, leaves Liberia.