Overview
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country in the Caribbean located on the island of Hispaniola. It occupies the western side of the island, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is positioned east of Cuba and Jamaica and south of The Bahamas. As the third largest country in the Caribbean by area, Haiti is the most populous Caribbean country with an estimated population of 11.4 million. The capital and largest city is Port-au-Prince.
Etymology
The name Haiti comes from the Indigenous Taíno language and means "land of high mountains." It was the Native name for the entire island of Hispaniola. The name was restored by Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines as the official name of independent Saint-Domingue, as a tribute to the Amerindian predecessors. An alternative theory suggests the name's origin in African tradition, where in the Fon language, Ayiti-Tomè means "From nowadays this land is our land."
In French, the name is spelled Haïti with a diaeresis mark over the ï to indicate that the second vowel is pronounced separately, while the H is silent. Various anglicized pronunciations exist, though HAY-ti is the most widespread. In Haitian Creole, the country is spelled and pronounced as Ayiti without the H. Haiti's French nickname is La Perle des Antilles ("Pearl of the Antilles") due to its natural beauty and historical wealth. The Haitian community uses multiple additional nicknames including Ayiti-Toma, Ayiti-Cheri, Tè-Desalin, and Lakay.
Pre-Columbian History
Hispaniola, of which Haiti occupies the western three-eighths, has been inhabited since approximately 6,000 years ago by Indigenous peoples believed to have arrived from Central or northern South America. Early inhabitants were largely hunter-gatherers. During the 1st millennium BC, Arawakan-speaking ancestors of the Taíno people began migrating into the Caribbean, bringing intensive pottery production and agriculture practices. The earliest evidence of Taíno ancestors on Hispaniola is the Ostionoid culture, dating to around 600 AD.
In Taíno society, the largest political unit was led by a cacique, or chief. At the time of European contact, Hispaniola was divided among five caciquedoms: the Magua in the northeast, the Marien in the northwest, the Jaragua in the southwest, the Maguana in the central regions of Cibao, and the Higüey in the southeast. Taíno cultural artifacts include cave paintings found throughout the country, which have become national symbols and tourist attractions.
Colonial Era
Spanish Rule (1492–1625)
Navigator Christopher Columbus landed in Haiti on December 6, 1492, in an area he named Môle-Saint-Nicolas, and claimed the island for the Crown of Castile. On December 25, his ship the Santa María ran aground near present-day Cap-Haïtien. Columbus established La Navidad, leaving 39 men on the island. Initial relations with native peoples were favorable, though the settlers were later killed by the Taíno.
European settlers brought endemic infectious diseases that caused epidemics devastating the native population. The first recorded smallpox epidemic in the Americas erupted on Hispaniola in 1507. Native numbers were further reduced by the harsh encomienda system, in which Spanish colonizers forced natives to work in gold mines and plantations. The Spanish enacted the Laws of Burgos (1512–1513), which forbade maltreatment of natives, endorsed their conversion to Catholicism, and provided legal framework for encomiendas.
As Spain focused colonization efforts on mainland Central and South America's greater riches, Hispaniola became primarily a trading and refueling post. Piracy became widespread, encouraged by European powers hostile to Spain, including France based on Île de la Tortue and England. Spain largely abandoned the western third of the island, concentrating on the eastern two-thirds. The western portion was gradually settled by French buccaneers, including Bertrand d'Ogeron, who succeeded in growing tobacco and recruited French colonial families from Martinique and Guadeloupe. In 1697, the Treaty of Ryswick divided Hispaniola between France and Spain.
French Rule (1625–1804)
France received the western third and named it Saint-Domingue. The French established sugar and coffee plantations worked by enslaved Africans imported in vast numbers. Saint-Domingue became France's richest colonial possession, generating 40% of France's foreign trade and doubling the combined wealth generation of all English colonies.
Enslaved persons vastly outnumbered French settlers by almost 10 to 1. According to the 1788 census, Haiti's population consisted of nearly 25,000 Europeans, 22,000 free coloreds, and 700,000 Africans in slavery. In the island's north, enslaved people retained many ties to African cultures, religion, and language, continually renewed by newly imported Africans. Some West Africans enslaved on the island maintained their traditional Vodou beliefs by secretly syncretizing them with Catholicism.
The French enacted the Code Noir ("Black Code"), prepared by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and ratified by Louis XIV, which established rules on slave treatment and permissible freedoms.
International Standing
Haiti is a founding member of the United Nations, Organization of American States, Association of Caribbean States, and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Beyond CARICOM membership, Haiti participates in the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.