Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of The Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean, and with an estimated population of 11.4 million, is the most populous Caribbean country.0 The capital and largest city is Port-au-Prince.
The recorded history of Haiti began in 1492, when the European captain and explorer Christopher Columbus landed on a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. The western portion of the island of Hispaniola, where Haiti is situated, was inhabited by the Taíno and Arawakan people, who called their island Ayiti. The island was promptly claimed for the Spanish Crown, where it was named La Isla Española ("the Spanish Island"), later Latinized to Hispaniola. By the early 17th century, the French had built a settlement on the west of Hispaniola and called it Saint-Domingue. Prior to the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the economy of Saint-Domingue gradually expanded, with sugar and, later, coffee becoming important export crops. After the war which had disrupted maritime commerce, the colony underwent rapid expansion. In 1767, it exported indigo, cotton and 72 million pounds of raw sugar. By the end of the century, the colony encompassed a third of the entire Atlantic slave trade.
In 1791, slaves staged a revolt which led to the Haitian Revolution. André Rigaud, leader of the revolution, forced the French to withdraw. When Toussaint Louverture declared independence in 1802, Napoleon sent an invasion force to coerce the Haitians. After the death of Toussaint while in imprisonment by the French, the Generals Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe, and Alexandre Pétion laid heavy battle against Charles Leclerc, the leader of the French invasion. As the tide of the war turned in favor of the Haitians, Napoleon abandoned the invasion, which led to Dessalines declaring the independence of Haiti in 1804. Dessalines orchestrated a massacre of the remaining French population in Haiti, resulting in over 5,000 deaths. Men, women, and children were killed as revenge for Napoleon's invasion. Whites were hanged from gallows along the coast, signaling to passing ships that Haiti had purged itself of Europeans. (Full article...)
...that in 2004, Hurricane Jeanne hit the coastal city of Gonaïves, where it affected about 80,000 of the city's 100,000 residents. Official reports counted 3,006 people dead, with 2,826 of those in Gonaïves alone.
...that former President of HaitiJean-Claude Duvalier, also known as "Baby Doc" was exiled to France after his disposition in 1986. He lost most of his wealth due to his divorce from his wife Michèle, But died October 4, 2014, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti due to a heart attack at the age of 63.
Image 24Staff of the German legation and the Hamburg-Amerika Line agency at Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1900. The agency was involved in the staffing and management of the legation. German nationals were comparatively numerous in Haiti and heavily involved in the Haitian economy until World War I. (from History of Haiti)
Image 25American Marines in 1915 defending the entrance gate in Cap-Haïten (from History of Haiti)
Image 41Jean-Claude and Michèle Duvalier en route to the airport to flee the country, 7 February 1986 (from History of Haiti)
Image 42"Burning of the Plaine du Cap – Massacre of whites by the blacks". On 22 August 1791, slaves set fire to plantations, torched cities, and massacred the white population. (from History of Haiti)
Image 43U.S. Marines patrol the streets of Port-au-Prince on 9 March 2004 (from History of Haiti)
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