| The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000. |
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| Haiti |
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Haiti (HAI-tee), Fr. Haïti (ah-ee-TEE), independent republic (10,700 sq mi/27,713 sq km; 1990 pop. 5,820,000), West Indies, on the W 1/3 of the isl. of Hispaniola, on the Atlantic Ocean (N) and the Caribbean Sea (S);  Port-au-prince 19°00'N 72°25'W. Bordered E by the Dominican Republic. Jamaica lies to the W and Cuba to the NW. Important cities include Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haïtien, and Gonaïves. The offshore isls. of Tortuga and Gonâve also belong to Haiti. Agr. is the principal economic activity. Mostly mountainous; c.1/3 of the land is arable. Subsistence crops include cassava, rice, sugarcane, sorghum, yams, corn, and plantains. Most Haitians own and farm tiny plots of land, and great pop. density has caused rural poverty. Coffee is the major export; other exports include cotton, sugar, sisal, bauxite, and essences. Spiny lobsters constitute an important share of Haitian exports to the U.S., the country’s leading trading partner. Industry in Haiti consists largely of light mfg.; products include foodstuffs, liquors, essential oils, leather goods, soap, and footwear. Some bauxite and copper are mined but other mineral deposits have barely been tapped. There is a cruise-ship port at Labadu. The most densely populated country in Lat. Amer. and has the lowest per capita income. Need for more farmland, fuel, and construction materials has led to serious deforestation. Prolonged economic inequality, political instability, and a near total lack of medical care continue to be serious problems in Haiti. About 95% of the inhabitants are descendants of Afr. slaves who still follow West Afr. cultural patterns. Since the mid–19th cent., however, Haiti has been dominated by the mulatto minority, which clings to Fr. cultural traditions; the official languages of Haiti are Haitian Creole and Fr., although the vast majority of the people speak the former. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, but Afr. nature gods are still worshipped and vodun (voodoo) rites are practiced. Economic hardship and political upheavals have caused numerous Haitians to emigrate, especially to the U.S. Despite the conditions here, the U.S. continued to maintain and enforce all immigration regulations into the early 1990s, which included sending back many Haitian emigres. The isl. of Hispaniola was inhabited by the Arawaks prior to the arrival of Columbus in 1492. Disease, ill treatment, and execution by the Spaniards decimated the Arawaks, who gave Haiti (“land of mountains”) its name. While establishing plantations in E Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic), however, the Span. largely ignored the W part of the isl., which by the 17th cent. became a base for Fr. and Eng. buccaneers. Gradually Fr. colonists, importing Afr. slaves, developed sugar plantations on the N coast. Spain ceded Haiti (then called Saint-Domingue) to France in 1697. It became France’s most prosperous colony in the Americas and one of the world’s chief coffee and sugar producers. Haitian society became stratified into Frenchmen, Creoles, freed blacks, and black slaves, with the mulattoes, whose social status was in-bet. When Creole planters sought to prevent mulatto representation in the Fr. Natl. Assembly and in local assemblies, the mulattoes revolted, destroying the rigid structure of Haitian society. The blacks formed guerrilla bands led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former slave who had been made an officer of the Fr. forces on Hispaniola. In 1795, Spain ceded its part of the isl. to France, and in 1801 Toussaint conquered it, abolished slavery, and proclaimed himself governor general of an autonomous govt. over all Hispaniola. Napoleon sent his brother-in-law, Gen. Charles Leclerc, in an unsuccessful effort to reconquer the isl. Toussaint, taken by trickery, died in a Fr. prison; but the revolt continued and forced the Fr. troops, already ravaged by yellow fever, to withdraw. The rebels received unexpected aid from U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, who feared that Napoleon would use Saint-Domingue as a base to invade La. In 1804, Haiti became the 2d nation in the Western Hemisphere, after the U.S., to win complete independence. The remaining French and Creoles were expelled, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, an ex-slave, proclaimed himself emperor. Haiti’s last emperor (1847–1859) was Faustin Soulouque. Since the end of his reign, the country has been a republic. Political and social conflict persisted, intensified by the mulatto-black hostility, and Haiti’s economy, which had never recovered from the violent struggle for independence, declined further. After the dictator Guillaume Sam was killed in a popular uprising in 1915, the U.S. took the opportunity to invade Port-au-Prince. Although financial and general material progress advanced under Amer. military occupation, Haiti protested, and a U.S. Senate investigation in 1921 found that the avowed purpose of preparing Haiti for responsible self-govt. had been ignored. In 1930 a U.S. presidential commission recommended that Haiti be allowed to elect a legislature that would, in turn, name a president. The marines were finally withdrawn in 1934, although U.S. fiscal control was maintained until 1947. Political instability persisted in Haiti after World War II. François (“Papa Doc”) Duvalier, elected president in 1957, suppressed opposition and in 1964 he proclaimed himself president for life. When he died in 1971 he was succeeded by his 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude (“Baby Doc”), who also became president for life. In 1986, popular discontent became great enough to induce him to flee the country. In Dec. 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president but was exiled in a military coup led by Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras. The U.S. and the OAS responded with economic sanctions. In Sept. 1994, Cedras agreed to a U.S.-backed plan for Aristide to return to power, after a show of U.S. military force. UN troops (mostly from the U.S.) landed unopposed in Haiti in Sept. 1994, U.S. sanctions were lifted, and Cedras resigned on Oct. 10, paving the way for Aristide’s return on Oct. 15. Command of U.S. forces was turned over to the UN on March 31, 1995, and on Dec. 17, 1995, Haitians voted for Aristide’s successor, Rene Preval, who took office Feb. 7, 1996. | | | | Capital city or county seat is shown by the symbol |
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| | | The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. Copyright © 2000 Columbia University Press. |
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