Haiti

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Haiti was originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples, known as the Taíno. In 1492, Christopher Columbus established the first European settlement in the Americas, La Navidad, on its northeastern coast. The island was part of the Spanish Empire until 1697, when the western portion was ceded to France and became Saint-Domingue, dominated by sugarcane plantations worked by enslaved Africans.

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Etymology

Haiti (also earlier Hayti) 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. Another theory on the name Haiti is its origin in African tradition; in Fon language, one of the most spoken by the bossales (Haitians born in Africa), Ayiti-Tomè means: "From nowadays this land is our land."

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History

The island of Hispaniola, of which Haiti occupies the western three-eighths, has been inhabited since about 6,000 years ago by Indigenous peoples who are thought to have arrived from Central or northern South America. These Archaic Age people are thought to have been largely hunter-gatherers. During the 1st millennium BC, the Arawakan-speaking ancestors of the Taino people began to migrate into the Caribbean. Unlike the Archaic peoples, they practiced the intensive production of pottery and agriculture. The earliest evidence of the ancestors of the Taino people on Hispaniola is the Ostionoid culture, which dates to around 600 AD.

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Geography

Haiti forms the western three-eighths of Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Greater Antilles. At 27,750 km2 (10,710 sq mi) Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean behind Cuba and the Dominican Republic, the latter sharing a 360-kilometer (224 mi) border with Haiti. The country has a roughly horseshoe shape and because of this it has a disproportionately long coastline, second in length (1,771 km or 1,100 mi) behind Cuba in the Greater Antilles.

Haiti is the most mountainous country in the Caribbean.

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Government and politics

The government is a semi-presidential republic, a multiparty system wherein the president of Haiti is head of state and elected directly by popular elections held every five years. A president cannot serve two consecutive terms or more than two terms in total, but can be reelected for a second term after an interval. The prime minister of Haiti acts as head of government and is appointed by the president, chosen from the majority party in the National Assembly. Executive power is exercised by the president and prime minister who together constitute the government. The president is the nominal commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Haiti and the National Police.

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Economy

The economy of Haiti declined dramatically after the 2010 earthquake and subsequent outbreak of cholera, with the country's nominal GDP falling by 8% (from US$12.15 billion to US$11.18 billion). Since then it has grown to US$33.55 billion in nominal GDP as of 2025, and during the same time period it grew from $26.88 billion to $38.2 billion in PPP-adjusted GDP. Despite its tourism industry, Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Americas, with corruption, political instability, poor infrastructure, lack of health care and lack of education cited as the main causes.

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Demographics

In 2018, Haiti's population was estimated to be about 10,788,000. In 2006, half of the population was younger than age 20. In 1950, the first formal census gave a total population of 3.1 million. Haiti averages approximately 350 people per square kilometer (910 people/mi2), with its population concentrated most heavily in urban areas, coastal plains, and valleys.

There is a large Haitian diaspora community, predominantly based in the United States, Canada, and France.

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Culture

Haiti has a lasting and unique cultural identity, blending traditional French and African customs, mixed with sizable acquirements from the Spanish and Indigenous cultures.

The Haitian Carnival has been one of the most popular carnivals in the Caribbean. In 2010, the government decided to stage the event in a different city outside Port-au-Prince every year. The National Carnival follows the popular Jacmel Carnival, which takes place a week earlier in February or March.

Rara is a festival celebrated before Easter. The festival has generated a style of Carnival music.

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