Haiti Tragedy Research Paper

The island nation of Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with one in four inhabitants of this small Caribbean nation living in extreme poverty. Plagued by political instability, as well as the devastating aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, the country of Haiti is still struggling for recovery.

Haiti was a colony of France known as Saint-Domingue. Africans and people of African ancestry under Toussaint L'Ouverture, the guiding light of the revolution and military genius and adept during the revolution, revolted against the French colonization. On January 1, 1804, Dessalines, the new leader under the dictatorial 1801 constitution, declared Haiti a free republic. Because the revolution was successful, Haiti became the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States, the only successful slave rebellion in world history, and the first black republic in modern history. It went directly from being a French colony to self-governance through a process that had a lasting effect on both the nation and worldwide.

Haiti has experienced some pretty hard times. The day was December 4th 1492. The locals were going about their day when a ship came across the shore, and inside was Christopher Columbus. He made the soldiers go to the island and turn some of the locals into slaves. Eventually a European colony came to Haiti with some slaves. [Some of the people in haiti now are descendents from the slaves and the colonists.] There were more and more slaves coming.

Haiti is located between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It occupies one third of the Hispaniola Island, the other two thirds belong to its neighbor: the Dominican Republic. It measures 27, 750 sq km, just a little smaller than the state of Maryland. It is unfortunately located in a highly active hurricane area prone to storms and flooding between the months of June to October. Haiti is the poorest country of the western hemisphere. Political turmoil is part of the country’s history. Currently it counts with a democratically elected president, Michael Martelly, as Chief of State and a Prime Minister, Laurent Latmothe, as head of the government. A new president is elected every five years and the president cannot serve consecutive periods. The Prime Minister is appointed by the president and ratified by the National Assembly. The National Assembly is made up of 30 senators, elected by popular vote for six years terms and 99 deputies, also elected by popular vote, for four years terms; a little bit complex

This village, named Isabella, became the first outpost of the Spanish Empire. One of these new ideas for governing was the use of native slave labor on plantations. This was the beginning of the long history of slavery that Haiti is known for. The placement of Hispaniola as the gateway to the Caribbean region made it a highly wanted location. Sir Francis Drake, along with other buccaneers, made several attacks against the island. Although they were never successful, these battles slowly deteriorated the dominance of Spain. French residents from the island of Tortuga noticed this decline in power, and started to move into Hispaniola. By the mid-eighteenth century, a territory largely neglected under Spanish rule had become the richest colony in the Western Hemisphere. The mixture of races that eventually divided Haiti into a small, mostly mulatto elite and an impoverished black majority started with the white slave owners reproducing with the African women. In 1791, there was a slave rebellion led by Francois-Dominique Toussaint Louverture. They killed every white person they seen. They put every white house or building that the white people owned on fire. The burnings of the

Haiti is located in the Caribbean between the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. It is located west of the Dominican Republic on the western third of Hispaniola.This means that Haiti is bordered by water on three out of its four sides. The terrain of Haiti is mostly mountainous. Elevation ranges from 0 meters at the Caribbean Sea to 2,680 meters at Chaine de la Selle. The land area is 27,560 square kilometers which makes Haiti slightly smaller in size than Maryland. With a population of 10,485,800 people the distribution is relatively even. However, there are higher concentrations of people located along the coastlines. (CIA, 2017)

Today there are many Genocides that have made history. Each one is as important as the other. A Genocide is tons of people being killed. It should be knowledgeable to remember the lives that were taken and will always be remembered. Not only were these Genocides planned they actually happened and were planned. Innocent people are hated for their race or religion and are killed and forced out of their homes.

Christopher Columbus came upon a large island while he was sailing the western region by the Atlantic Ocean that was later known as the Caribbean which was December 5, 1492. Columbus eventually settled on this island and claimed it for the Spanish Crown. In 1625, the French took control of what was called Saint-Domingue (Lawless,2018), then what we know today to be called Haiti was started in 1660. Once upon a time Haiti was one of the most wealthiest French colonies, they became so wealthy from the amount of sugar and coffee they produced. It was being sold everywhere, one of the most popular goods sold back then. When the French Revolution started in 1789, the people of Haiti began to rebel in 1791 which later came to Haiti becoming an independent

Haiti is the second largest Caribbean Island. It occupies a third of the western part of the island it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is also made up of several islands that surround the main territory. The capital is Port-au-Prince. It rains between November and March in the North of the island and between May and October in the South. “Once covered by forest, the country has been heavily logged for wood and fuel and to clear land for farming, and is now largely deforested.” Haiti is divided into “nine administrative departments.” Besides the capital, other important cities are Cap-Haitien and Gonaives.  “Haiti is the most densely populated country in Latin America and has the lowest per

Celucien Joseph, a professor at Indian River State College, best explains the modern scholarship in historiography of Haiti with his following statement, “The scholarship that does exist focuses on class and race structures, resistance of the enslaved and marronage, economic and political forces, and Toussaint Louverture.” Professor Joseph is recognizing the modern development by historians concerning the historiography of Haiti unlike the past, where Haiti was ignored and downplayed as an important event of the Age of Revolutions. It has the uncomfortable feature of the abolition of slavery in a constitution by non-Europeans which needs to be united with the period it not only influenced but was influenced.

The 2010 Haiti Earthquake was a large-scale earthquake that occurred January 12, 2010, on the West Indian island of Hispaniola, comprising the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Most severely affected was Haiti, occupying the western third of the island. An exact death toll proved elusive in the ensuing chaos. The official Haitian government count was more than 300,000, but other estimates were considerably smaller. Hundreds of thousands of survivors were displaced. So much was destroyed in such little time the survivors had no clue what to do and many of them were just in shock. One survivor said "It was God who was tucking me away in his arms. It gave me strength.” Another survivor said "I felt the house dancing around me," he

According to Diamond (2005), the rapid deforestation in Haiti is caused by lower rainfall compared to the Dominican Republic. The

The Haitian revolution took place in Saint-Domingue, a French colony and one of the richest of all European colonies in the Caribbean, on the western part of the island of Hispaniola, a major center of sugar production with hundreds of prosperous plantations. The population of the colony comprised of three groups, the white colonials, the gens de couleur, and the slaves. Many slaves ran away and established maroon communities that were self-sustained. As more and more slaves ran away, more and more slaves were being imported from Africa and other Caribbean islands, which resulted in the high prices of slaves. Since the French aided the North American colonists in their war for independence, they sent several hundreds of gens de couleur to the colonies. Once they returned to Saint-Domingue, they wanted independence themselves from the French.

The Haiti earthquake of 2010 was a 7.0Mw. The focus was 13 km deep close by Haiti’s capitol Port Au Prince. It was determined that this was a left lateral fault in association with many strike slip faults in the surrounding areas. This earthquake was part of the Enriquillo Plantain Garden fault zone which causes many strike slip fault earthquakes as it slides part the Caribian plate as well as the North American plate.

The Haitian Revolution lasted an extensive 12 years; it was a slave revolt in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which concluded in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Republic of Haiti. The Haitian Revolution was the only slave revolt which led to the dawn of a state. It created the question of what it would mean if people of color insisted that the promises of freedom made by the American and French Revolutions also applied to them. The Haitian Revolution was the forerunner of modern anti-colonial movements in