The Kru languages belong to the Niger – Congo language family and are spoken by the Kru people from the southeast of Liberia to the east of Ivory Coast.

Nevertheless, the Kru people rely on the forest for farming supplemented by hunting for their livelihood.

Overall, in 2010, Kru and associated languages were spoken by 95 percent of the approximate 3. 5 million people in Liberia.

Breitbonde notes the Kru people were categorized based on their cultural distinctiveness, separate historical or ethnic identities, and social and political autonomy.

* Kru people

This group belongs to the Kru language family and its people are sometimes referred to as the Wee, Guéré, Sapo, or Wobe.

A man of the Kru people.

It is a combination of North American, West African and Latin American styles, and emerged in the 1950s in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, especially among the Liberian Kru people, who were sailors that played Spanish guitar, banjo, pennywhistle, harmonica, accordion, mandolin and concertina.

In 1915, the coastal Kru people, who had long resisted Monrovia's authority, rose in rebellion, declaring their loyalty to Great Britain and demanding annexation by Sierra Leone.

It evolved among the Kru people of Sierra Leone and Liberia, who used Portuguese guitars brought by sailors, combining local melodies and rhythms with Trinidadian calypso and soca music.

The Bassa are a people of Liberia, living in Grand Bassa, Rivercess, Margibi and Montserrado counties, who speak the Bassa language, a Kru language.

The Bassa language is a Kru language spoken by about 350, 000 people in Liberia and 5, 000 in Sierra Leone by Bassa people.

Marchese ( 1989 ) notes the fact that many of these peoples were recruited as “ crew ” by European seafarers ; “ the homonymy with crew is obvious, and is at least one source of the confusion among Europeans that there was a Kru / crew tribe ” Andrew Dalby noted the historical importance of the Kru languages for their position at the crossroads of African-European interaction and wrote that “ Kru and associated languages were among the first to be encountered by European voyagers on what was then known as the Pepper Coast, a center of the production and export of Guinea and melegueta pepper ; a once staple African seaborne trade ”.

Recent documentation has noted “ Kru societies can now be found along the coast of Monrovia, Liberia to Bandama River in Cote d ' Ivoire ” “ Villages maintain their ties based on presumed common descent, reinforced by ceremonial exchanges and gifts ”.

They are those languages west of Kru which have the noun-class systems characteristic of the Niger – Congo family ; in this they are distinguished from their Mande neighbors, which do not.

The Kru were so opposed to slavery within their own tribe members that many committed suicide rather than face enslavement.

Although scholars are not certain of their origins and intended use, some sources believe that the Kru saw these objects as living entities typically found in small bodies of water such as rivers and creeks.

Although many Kru-speaking tribes have adopted English as their second language, recent studies have shown that 95 percent of Liberia still speaks Kru.

Over the centuries, some African peoples, such as the Kru, came to be understood as holding substandard value as slaves, because they developed a reputation for being too proud for slavery, and for attempting suicide immediately upon losing their freedom.

Team 3D made their first appearance on the October 1 episode of TNA Impact !, helping save the 3Live Kru ( Ron Killings, Konnan, and B. G.

Following a heated argument between Konnan and B. G., both Killings and Konnan gave their approval, and the 4Live Kru was born.

and Kip, costing them their match against Team Canada and initiating a feud between himself and the remainder of the Kru.

In 1856 when part of Liberia was still known as the independent Republic of Maryland, the Kru along with the Grebo resisted Maryland settlers ' efforts to control their trade.

In 1856, the independent state of Maryland ( Africa ) requested military aid from Liberia in a war with the Grebo and Kru peoples who were resisting the Maryland settlers ' efforts to control their trade in slaves.

At this point, if a player wants to continue playing, they will need to create an account and register their character with Kru Interactive.

The Bassa ( Dei, Bassa, Kru, Krahn, Grebo ), also referred to as the Kwa-Speakers, can trace their historical origins to Egypt.

The gimmick of the 3Live Kru was that each member of the group exemplified a racial caricature of their particular ethnicity.

as special guest referee, with both Kip and the remainder of the Kru urging him to take their respective side.

On the December 3, 2005 episode of TNA Impact !, Armstrong returned to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, congratulating the newly formed Four Live Kru on their unity.

After defeating Jeff Hardy at Unbreakable in September, Roode and the remainder of Team Canada resumed their feud with 3Live Kru.

In April 2005, Nexon Inc. split from the Korean division of Nexon Corp. and changed their name to Kru Interactive.

The Kru languages have contour tones.

The Kru languages are known for some of the most complex tone systems in Africa, rivaled perhaps only by the Omotic languages.

The Kru languages include many subgroups such as Kuwaa, Grebo, Belle, Belleh, Kwaa and many others.

Unfortunately, as noted by Fisiak, there is very little documentation on the Kru and associated languages.

The Marchese ( 1989 ) classification of Kru languages is as follows.

Category: Kru languages

The Dida lects have consonant and vowel inventories typical of the Eastern Kru languages.

Category: Kru languages

Greenberg ( 1963 ) added the Kru languages of Liberia, the Ghana – Togo Mountain languages which Westermann and Bryan had specifically excluded, and Ijaw of the Niger delta ; West Kwa included the languages from Liberia to Dahomey ( Republic of Benin ), and East Kwa the languages of Nigeria.

Stewart ( 1989 ) removed Kru, Ijaw, and Volta – Niger ( East Kwa ), but kept the Ghana – Togo Mountain and Lagoon languages, as well as adding a few obscure, newly described languages.