15 Nations Global Tour: Haiti (Stop #6)

Profile manager: David Randall [send private message]

This sub-project is part of the larger 15 Nations Global Tour. Please visit the main project page for details on the goals and objectives of this project.

G2G: Click here to participate in our current discussion on the Haiti G2G thread, or here for our general discussion on the 15 Nations Global Tour G2G thread.

Geography

Haiti is located in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, about 700 miles southeast of Miami, Florida. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is the third largest country by area in the Caribbean.

Demographics

Haiti has an estimated population of 11.4 million, making it the most populous country in the Caribbean. Administratively, Haiti is divided into ten departments which are further divided into 42 arrondissements, 145 communes, and 571 communal sections. The capital and largest city on Haiti is Port-au-Prince, with nearly 1 million residents.

Most Haitians are descendants of former black African slaves, including Mulattoes who are mixed-race. The remainder are primarily of European or Arab descent. Around 55% of Haitians professed to being Catholics while Protestants made up about 29% of the population. Vodou, a religion with West African roots, is still practiced by some Haitians today. Many Catholics and Protestants in Haiti denounce Vodou as devil worship, but do not deny the power of such spirits. Minority religions in Haiti include Islam, Bahá'í Faith, Judaism, and Buddhism.

History

The island of Hispaniola was originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno people. The first Europeans arrived with the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, on 5 Dec 1492. Columbus subsequently founded the first European settlement in the Americas, La Navidad, on what is now the northeastern coast of Haiti. The island was claimed by Spain and named La Española, remaining part of the Spanish Empire until the early 17th century. However, competing claims and settlements by the French led to the western portion of the island being ceded to France in 1697, which was subsequently named Saint-Domingue. French colonists established lucrative sugarcane plantations, worked by vast numbers of slaves brought from Africa, which made the colony one of the richest in the world.

In the midst of the French Revolution (1789–99), slaves, maroons, and free people of color launched the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), led by a former slave and the first black general of the French Army, Toussaint Louverture. After 12 years of conflict, Napoleon Bonaparte's forces were defeated by Louverture's successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines (later Emperor Jacques I), who declared Haiti's sovereignty on 1 Jan 1804—the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean and the first in the Americas to abolish slavery. Initially, Haiti included all of Hispaniola, but In the 1870s, Haiti formally recognized the independence of the Dominican Republic.

Haiti's first century of independence was characterized by great political turmoil. Political volatility and foreign economic influence in the country prompted the United States to occupy the country from 1915 to 1934. In 1956, following a series of short-lived presidencies, François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier took power, ushering in a long period of autocratic rule which was continued by his son, Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier. Roughly 50,000 Haitians are estimated to have been killed during the reign of the Duvaliers, which finally ended with the exile of Baby Doc in 1986.

Haiti currently has the lowest Human Development Index in the Americas. Since the turn of the 21st century, Haiti has been experiencing a socioeconomic and political crisis marked by riots and protests, widespread hunger, and increased gang activity. The country has endured a coup d'état, an earthquake that killed over 250,000 people, a devastating hurricane, a cholera outbreak, COVID, and a presidential assassination. As of March 2023, Haiti has no elected government officials and has been described as a failed state.

Notable Haitians

In the below list, columns can be sorted by clicking on the arrow button in any category heading box. A "C" in the final column denotes a Notable who has been successfully connected to the Big Tree. "N/C" stands for Not Connected.

Notable	Born	Died	Claim to Fame	Photo	C
Henri I	1767	1820	King of Haiti		N/C
Marie-Madeleine Lachenais	1778	1843	Haiti's Most Powerful Woman		C
Oswald Durand	1840	1906	Haiti's National Poet		C
Anténor Firmin	1850	1911	Anthropologist who challenged the notion of racial superiority		C
Cincinnatus LeConte	1854	1912	19th President of Haiti		C
Constantin Henriquez	1880	1942	First Black Olympic Gold Medal Winner		C
Hector Hyppolite	1894	1948	"Grand Master of Haitian Art"		N/C
Faustin E. Wirkus	1896	1945	The US Marine Who Became a King		C
Papa Doc Duvalier	1907	1971	Authoritarian Dictator		C
Jaques Roumain	1907	1944	Influential Author		C
Dr. Yvonne Silvain	1907	1989	Haiti's First Female Physician		C
Max Beauvoir	1936	2015	"The Pope of Vodou"		N/C
Ariel Henry	1949	LIVING	Current Prime Minister of Haiti		N/C
Jovenel Moise	1968	2021	Recently Assassinated President		N/C
Wyclef Jean	1969	LIVING	Musician and Activist		N/C