Editing Robertsport (section)

==History==
In the mid-15th century, the Portuguese navigator [[Pedro de Sintra]] reached the cape, a 1,000-foot high granite promontory, which he named Cabo do Monte (Cape Mount).<ref name=eb/> 
Cape Mount was the site of Dutch [[trading post]], which turned out to be very hard to defend. The post never became self-sufficient, and habitually required assistance from the station at [[Elmina]], about 750 miles away by sea.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawrence |first1=A.W. |title=Trade Castles & Forts of West Africa |date=1963 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |pages=41, 57}}</ref>
[[Théodore Canot]], a writer and slave-trader, established a settlement in the area in 1840.<ref name=histdict>{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=Elwood E. |last2=Beyan |first2=Amos J. |last3=Burrowes |first3=Carl Patrick |title=Historical Dictionary of Liberia |date=20 December 2000 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0810838765 |page=147 |edition=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qt0_RrW8ghkC&q=pedro+de+sintra+robertsport&pg=PA147 |accessdate=18 February 2019}}</ref>
In 1849 the Liberian government signed a treaty with the [[Vai people]],<ref name=eb/> acquiring the territory of Cape Mount and subsequently founding Robertsport in 1856.<ref name=histdict />

Robertsport used to host the [[Tubman Center of African Culture]], which was built in 1964 to commemorate [[William V.S. Tubman]]'s sixty-ninth birthday.<ref name=Zetterstrom>{{cite journal |last1=Zetterström |first1=Kjell |title=The Tubman Center of African Culture |journal=Liberian Studies Journal |date=1968 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=73–74 |url=https://www.africabib.org/rec.php?RID=190573406 |accessdate=18 February 2019}}</ref> The institution was meant to be a world-wide center of research,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Girma |first1=Kidane |title=The National Museum: Liberia - (mission) |journal=Participation and Cooperation for Development Programmes and International Campaigns |date=1982 |volume=4 |page=3 |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000054808 |accessdate=18 February 2019 |publisher=UNESCO}}</ref> and to support and promote [[African studies]].<ref name=Zetterstrom /> The civil war destroyed the structure, and only the ruins remain.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tubman Center of African Culture {{!}} Robertsport, Liberia Attractions |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/liberia/robertsport/attractions/tubman-center-of-african-culture/a/poi-sig/1556608/1337616 |website=Lonely Planet |accessdate=18 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

Since the [[Second Liberian Civil War]], the town, still mostly a fishing village, is being developed as a [[seaside resort]] for [[surfing]]. American visitors coming to the area after 2003 met up with a local, Robert Lomax, whom they taught to surf. Lomax taught others how to surf, including Philip Banini, who became a surfing teacher and owner of a guesthouse for surfers. {{As of|2022}}, the Robertsport Surf Club was expected to start owning its own beach property for surfing lessons and fishing trips.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/amp/robertsport-liberia-surf-spc-intl/index.html |title=A post-war surfing renaissance is underway in Africa's oldest republic |first=Jo |last=Munnik |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=20 May 2022 |accessdate=21 May 2022}}</ref> The film “We The Surfers” about the annual African national Surfing titles held in Robertstown and it’s participants including women surfers Faith and Butterfly from Robertstown was showcased at the Ocean Film Festival 2025.