ABOUT HAITI
WHY HAITI?Haiti's terrain consists mainly of rugged mountains with small coastal plains and river valleys.
HISTORY:
The Arawak, the original inhabitants of the island Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, called the island Ayti, meaning Iland of mountains. When he arrived in 1492, Christopher Columbus named the island La Isla Espa?? (Spanish for ?The Spanish Island?) in honor of his Spanish sponsors. The name later evolved into the modern name Hispaniola. After an early settlement near Cap-Ha?en was destroyed by Native Americans, the Spanish settled the eastern half of the island and left the west unsettled. French pirates operating from the island of Tortue hunted wild boar and other animals in Haiti to sell as food to passing ships. By 1697, when Spain formally ceded the western one-third of Hispaniola?the portion that later became Haiti?to France, the French had established a flourishing slave-plantation system throughout the colony. At the end of the next century, Saint-Domingue (the French colonial term for Haiti) was the world's richest colony. The population at that time totaled more than 450,000 slaves, more than 25,000 free mulattoes, and about 30,000 French planters.
About 800 Haitian volunteers fought in the American Revolution (1775-1783) under French general Marquis de Lafayette and thereby gained some military experience. The French Revolution, which began in 1789, inspired the Haitian Slave Revolt of 1791. This rebellion was led by Toussaint-L'Ouverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe, Alexandre Sab?P?on, and Jean-Pierre Boyer. By 1794 forces under Toussaint-L'Ouverture (today known as ?the Precursor?) had freed the colony's slave population and rid it of its French and British presence. By 1801 Toussaint ruled the entire colony. Although Toussaint was captured by French forces in 1802 and died a prisoner in France, the rebellion he had fostered did not die. In 1804 Dessalines declared Haiti to be the world's first black republic. Unfortunately, most of the country's plantation infrastructure had been destroyed and all the experienced administrators had been eliminated.
In 1806 Dessalines was assassinated, and for some years thereafter the northern part of Haiti was held by Christophe. In the southern part of the island a republic was established by Pion. Upon the death of Christophe in 1820, Boyer, the successor to P?on, began to consolidate his power throughout the island. He succeeded in unifying Hispaniola under his rule in 1822. In 1844 the eastern two-thirds of the island declared its independence as the Republic of Santo Domingo, now the Dominican Republic.
The subsequent history of Haiti was characterized by a series of bitter struggles for political ascendancy between the blacks and the mulattoes. In 1849 a black man, Faustin ?ie Soulouque, proclaimed himself emperor as Faustin I, and for ten years he ruled in a despotic manner. In early 1859, the mulatto Nicholas Fabre Geffrard restored republican government; he remained in office until 1867.
Christopher Columbus lands and claims the island of Hispaniola for Spain. The Spanish build the New World's first settlement at La Navidad on Haiti's north coast.
During the rest of the 19th century, Haiti was under the control of a succession of dictators, none of whom had the wherewithal to resolve the conflict between the country’s two main ethnic groups: the mulattos, who held political power, and the blacks. Early in the 20th century, the US took control of Haiti, sending troops in at one stage to support the regime. After 30 years as a US protectorate, Haiti was returned to local rule after World War II.
Haiti is formally governed according to the terms of the Constitution promulgated in 1987 which allows for an executive president and a bicameral legislature (an 83-member Chamber of Deputies and 27-member Senate). The President is elected by popular vote every five years. The Chamber of Deputies is elected every four years; and the Senate every six years. The Constitution was restored in September 1994 after a three-year interruption following a military coup.
A third migration, from Venezuela, swept through the Antilles about 2000 years ago, and by AD 700 occupied Haiti and most of the surrounding islands. They called themselves the Taino (friendly people), and an estimated 400,000 of them lived on Hispanola when Italian adventurer Christopher Columbus got off the ship to greet them. Folks on another island had told Columbus that there was gold to be found there, and the anxious Italian set off in the night to find it. Although most Tainos died during the next 25 years at the hands of Spanish slave drivers (or Spanish viruses), their contributions to the world - barbecue, tobacco, canoe and hammock are all Taino words - live on.
By 1519, the gold mines were empty and the Tainos all but extinct, so the Spanish imported African slaves and grew sugarcane. As the 1600s began, the Spanish citizens on the western end of Hispaniola traded illegally with the French. The troops were sent in and those treasonous areas depopulated. The French traders moved into the empty towns, further frustrating Spain's ambitions.
PEOPLE / CULTURE:
Nearly all of Haiti's population are of African origin; mulattoes account for most of the remainder, and there are a few people of European descent. Haiti has differentiated itself ethnically, linguistically, and culturally from other Caribbean and Latin American countries, notably the Spanish-speaking nations of the region.