50 Fun Facts About Haiti

Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with which other country?

The Dominican Republic, which is Spanish-speaking and larger than Haiti, occupies the eastern part of Hispaniola; the two states share the island's only land border.

What is the capital and largest city of Haiti?

Port-au-Prince was founded in 1749 and became the colonial capital in 1770; its metropolitan area today holds well over two million people.

The name Haiti comes from the Taíno language and means what?

Ayiti, meaning land of high mountains, was the Taíno name for the whole island; the revolutionaries restored it at independence in place of the colonial name.

What are the two official languages of Haiti?

Almost every Haitian speaks Creole, while only a minority are fluent in French, which long dominated schools and government.

In which year did Haiti become the only country established by a successful slave revolt?

Independence was proclaimed on 1 January 1804, making Haiti the second independent nation in the Americas after the United States and the first founded by a successful slave revolt.

The Haitian Revolution began with a mass slave uprising in which year?

The uprising broke out across the northern plain on 22 August 1791, days after the Bois Caïman Vodou ceremony led by the priest Dutty Boukman.

Before independence, Haiti was a European colony known by what name?

Saint-Domingue, the western part of Hispaniola ceded by Spain in 1697, was by the 1780s the most profitable colony in the Americas, producing much of Europe's sugar and coffee with enslaved labour.

Where was Toussaint Louverture jailed after deportation, dying there in 1803?

He was held in a cold mountain fortress in the Jura and died there in April 1803, less than a year before the independence he had fought for.

Who declared Haiti's independence in 1804 and became its first emperor?

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Louverture's former lieutenant, crowned himself Emperor Jacques I within months of independence and was assassinated at Pont-Rouge in October 1806.

Which Napoleonic general capitulated after losing the Battle of Vertières?

Donatien de Rochambeau, who took command after Leclerc died of yellow fever, lost at Vertières on 18 November 1803 and agreed days later to evacuate the colony.

Which revolutionary leader crowned himself king of northern Haiti in 1811?

Henri Christophe ruled the north as King Henry I from 1811, created a nobility of dukes and counts, and shot himself in 1820 as his army mutinied.

The Citadelle Laferrière and the Sans-Souci Palace were named UNESCO World Heritage Sites in which year?

UNESCO inscribed the National History Park, covering the Citadelle, Sans-Souci and Ramiers, in 1982; the palace itself had been wrecked by an earthquake in 1842.

In 1825 Haiti agreed to pay an indemnity to which country in exchange for recognition of its independence?

France, under Charles X, demanded 150 million francs (later cut to 90 million) in 1825 to recognise Haitian independence, a debt Haiti finished paying only in 1947.

The American occupation of Haiti that began in 1915 lasted until which year?

US Marines landed in July 1915 and the last of them withdrew in August 1934 under Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy, ending a 19-year occupation.

What was the nickname of François Duvalier, dictator of Haiti from 1957 to 1971?

Papa Doc came from François Duvalier's earlier career as a physician in rural public-health campaigns; he had himself declared president for life in 1964.

What was the name of the feared death squad that enforced the Duvalier regime?

The Tonton Macoute, officially the Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale, took their name from a Haitian folk bogeyman, Uncle Gunnysack, who carries off children in a sack.

What was the nickname of Jean-Claude Duvalier, who ruled Haiti from 1971 to 1986?

Baby Doc, Jean-Claude Duvalier, was only 19 when he inherited the presidency for life in April 1971, and he fled into exile in February 1986.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who served several terms as Haiti's president from 1991, had earlier been what?

Aristide was a Salesian priest, expelled from the order in 1988 over his fiery liberation-theology sermons to the capital's poor, before winning the December 1990 election.

The catastrophic 2010 Haiti earthquake, which struck on 12 January, had what magnitude?

The magnitude 7.0 quake struck at 4:53 pm on 12 January 2010; the presidential palace, parliament and cathedral all collapsed and much of the capital was levelled.

The epicentre of the 2010 earthquake was near which town, about 25 km west of the capital?

Estimates put the death toll anywhere from around 100,000 to more than 300,000, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes ever recorded.

Haitian president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his home in the capital in which year?

Moïse was shot dead at his residence in Pétion-Ville on 7 July 2021 by a hit squad of mostly Colombian ex-soldiers; the killing plunged Haiti into deeper political crisis.

What is the national currency of Haiti?

Prices are often quoted in "Haitian dollars", an informal unit worth five gourdes that dates from a time when the currency was pegged to the US dollar.

What is the highest peak in Haiti?

Pic la Selle, at about 2,680 metres, crowns the Massif de la Selle south-east of the capital, and its slopes hold some of Haiti's last stands of pine forest.

What is the longest river in Haiti, and on the whole island of Hispaniola?

The Artibonite runs about 320 km from the Cordillera Central across the border into Haiti, where it fills the Péligre reservoir and irrigates the country's main rice valley.

Which is the largest of the islands lying off Haiti's coast?

Île de la Gonâve, about 60 km long, lies in the bay west of the capital and supports tens of thousands of people despite having scant fresh water.

The island of Tortuga off Haiti's north coast was famous in the 17th century as a haven for what?

French buccaneers based there raided Spanish shipping, and the island later lent its name to the pirate port in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Haiti is divided into how many departments, its largest administrative units?

Haiti has had 10 departments since Nippes was carved out of Grand'Anse in 2003; they are further split into arrondissements and communes.

Where does Haiti rank among Caribbean countries by area?

Around 11.4 million people live in a country slightly smaller than the US state of Maryland.

From the remains of which ship did Columbus build La Navidad on Haiti's coast in 1492?

The Santa María, Columbus's flagship, ran aground on Christmas Day 1492; timbers from the wreck built La Navidad, whose 39 men were all dead when he returned in 1493.

Haitian Creole is a creole language based mainly on which European language?

Its vocabulary is largely French but its grammar owes much to West African languages, and it is spoken by more than 13 million people worldwide.

Haitian Vodou arose through syncretism between West and Central African religions and which faith?

Many of its spirits, called lwa, are paired with Catholic saints, and it was officially recognised as a religion in Haiti in 2003.

Soup joumou, eaten every 1 January to celebrate independence, is a soup made from what?

Joumou is the local name for the pumpkin-like calabaza squash; colonists kept the soup for themselves, so after independence Haitians made it their 1 January dish of freedom.

Griot, one of Haiti's best-loved dishes, is made from which meat, marinated in citrus and then fried?

Griot is cubed pork shoulder marinated in sour orange and spices, braised and then fried crisp; it comes with pikliz, a fiery pickled cabbage slaw, and fried plantains.

The Barbancourt family business, Haiti's famous rum maker, began producing rum in which year?

Dupré Barbancourt founded the distillery in 1862; unlike most Caribbean rums it is made from fresh cane juice rather than molasses, in the agricole style.

Compas, or konpa, the modern méringue dance music of Haiti, was created by which bandleader in the 1950s?

Saxophonist Nemours Jean-Baptiste launched compas direct with his Conjunto International in 1955, a big-band dance style that became the sound of Haitian Carnival.

Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean first found fame as a member of which hip-hop trio?

The Fugees, formed with Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel, made Wyclef a star with 1996's The Score; he ran for Haiti's presidency in 2010 but was ruled ineligible on residency grounds.

Under what stage name was Haitian president Michel Martelly a famous musician?

As Sweet Micky, Martelly fronted a raunchy compas band from the late 1980s, then won the 2011 presidential run-off and served until 2016.

Which motto appears on the ribbon of Haiti's coat of arms?

Unity makes strength renders the arms' L'Union fait la force; the arms show a palm topped by a liberty cap among cannons and flags, on the flag's white panel.

The flag of Haiti is a bicolour of two horizontal bands in which colours?

Blue over red: legend says the revolutionary leader tore the white band from the colonial tricolour at Arcahaie and had the remaining blue and red bands sewn together as the new flag.

Haiti's national football team qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in which year?

At the 1974 tournament in West Germany, Emmanuel Sanon scored to end Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff's record run of 1,142 minutes without conceding.

Sylvio Cator, Haiti's Olympic medallist, won silver at the 1928 Games in which event?

Cator took long jump silver in Amsterdam in 1928 and that September leapt 7.93 m for a world record; the national stadium in the capital bears his name.

Michaëlle Jean, born in Haiti's capital, served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of which country?

Jean, whose family fled to Canada in 1968, was Canada's 27th governor general; she later led the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie as its first woman secretary-general.

Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat's first novel, an Oprah's Book Club selection, is titled what?

Breath, Eyes, Memory appeared in 1994 when Danticat was 25, and Oprah picked it in 1998; she has since won a MacArthur grant and a National Book Critics Circle Award.

Which Haitian city is renowned for its papier-mâché Carnival masks?

Jacmel's artisans build the elaborate papier-mâché masks and floats of its Carnival, and the town's historic centre keeps 19th-century merchants' houses with cast-iron balconies.

Which Haitian beach resort did the government lease to Royal Caribbean as a private cruise stop?

Labadee, a fenced peninsula on Haiti's north coast, began receiving Royal Caribbean ships in 1986 and became by far the country's busiest tourist site.

What is the largest lake in Haiti, lying along the border with its eastern neighbour?

Étang Saumâtre, also called Lake Azuei, takes its name from its brackish water; it has no outlet to the sea and holds American crocodiles and flamingos.

Columbus's flagship ran aground on 25 December 1492 near which present-day Haitian city?

The northern city later served as the capital of the French colony and of Henri Christophe's kingdom, and is Haiti's second city today.

Which ruler made reunified Haiti a second empire before the republic returned in 1859?

Faustin Soulouque was proclaimed Emperor Faustin I in 1849 and crowned in 1852 in a ceremony modelled on Napoleon's, complete with a newly minted imperial nobility.

Which New York bank persuaded Wilson to take control of Haiti's finances, leading to the 1915 occupation?

National City Bank, today's Citibank, had bought into Haiti's national bank and lobbied for US control; in December 1914 Marines shipped $500,000 of Haitian gold to its New York vaults.

Which dictator ordered the 1937 Parsley massacre of thousands of Haitians near the border?

Rafael Trujillo ordered the killings in October 1937; soldiers reportedly held up parsley, perejil, and used the victims' pronunciation to pick out Haitians.