Krahn is an ethnic group of Liberia; it is also the language traditionally spoken by these people.
The Krahn Arrived in the area known as Ivory Coast and Liberia from Northern Africa shortly before the slaves trade. Most of these people were taken as slaves to the United States and the Caribbean. Some were already present in the area known as Liberia before the formation of the country, and are traditionally based in Grand Gedeh County.
It is thought that the Krahn were traditionally farmers, growing food, and keeping a few animals. Hunting and fishing was also practiced. In terms of religion, many Krahn believe that objects have spirits or souls (animism).
When the Krahn leader Samuel Doe came to power in Liberia (through a military coup in 1980) many Krahn speakers moved from the inland areas to the capital Monrovia. It is thought though that many ethnic Krahn brought up in the city will have not used the language.
Following the removal of the Samuel Doe regime in 1990, and the onset of civil war, refugees have fled from Liberia to Côte d'Ivoire, some taking the Krahn language with them.
In 2003, members of the Krahn tribe founded a rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), which promised to disarm the same year.
Krahn is a Kru language. There are two variations of the language, Eastern and Western Krahn.
Western Krahn is spoken in parts of Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia. The Western Krahn do have some roots from the Ivory Coast and are influenced by both French and English. The Krahn are originally from Northern Africa, a very small group who moved to the west coast of Africa shortly before the slave trades began. They settled in what is now known as Ivory Coast and Liberia. From research from 1991 and 1993, there were an estimated 47,800 speakers in Liberia and 12,200 in Côte d'Ivoire.
Eastern Krahn tends to be spoken natively only in Liberia, with a 1991 estimate of the number of speakers at about 47,000.
There are many dialects of both of these languages. Dialects in Côte d'Ivoire tend to have a French influence.