Haiti was "discovered" by Christopher Columbus in 1492. His original
landing was in the vicinity of Cap Haitien on the north coast, on the
feast of St. Nicholas (according to the Church Calendar). The handful
of men he left behind soon died out... but not before infecting the
natives with enough European diseases to virtually exterminate the
population within a century. Subsequently, the French colonized the
nearly uninhabited land, and repopulated it with black slaves from
Africa.
Shortly after the revolution in the British colonies
in North America resulted in the formation of the United States, Haiti
became the second "free" nation in the western hemisphere. The slaves
revolted and expelled their French masters, establishing an independent
republic in 1804. The French did not take kindly to their defeat, and
Napoleon sent an invasion force of 30,000 to retake their "property".
It was defeated. Before the French finally gave up, at least 100,000
French soldiers died in the attempt.
A century later, however,
Haiti became once again a colony, of the United States. The country was
invaded by the United States in 1919, and operated under US military
rule until 1934, mostly for the benefit of US economic interests.
The
US withdrawal was followed by a series of dictatorships culminating in
the horror years of the Duvaliers (father and son), which provided
grist for innumerable magazine articles... the backbone of what little
many people know about Haiti.
So where is Haiti? About the same
distance from Miami as Miami is from Atlanta... about 500 miles south,
a bit past Cuba. Haiti occupies the western portion of the island of
Hispaniola, the eastern (and far larger) portion of which is known as
the Dominican Republic. Haiti is about the same size as Maryland,
shaped a bit like a crab's claw. The distances are not terribly great,
but the going is very slow: to travel by truck from St. Nicholas at the
western end of the northern peninsula, to Jérémie at the western end of
the southern peninsula, would require at least four or five exhausting
days — in the unlikely event that the vehicle succeeded in making the
trip without a breakdown or encountering a totally impassable road.
Impassable
roads are only one of the more visible problems besetting a country
which for most of this century has been run either for the benefit of
foreign exploiters, or of native power-brokers whose primary concern
has been their own comfort. The Duvaliers were particularly grotesque,
but they had plenty of company in their misrule. Their era ended with
the flight of "Baby Doc" from the country in 1986... to enjoy the
approximately $600 million he had stolen from his countrymen. Several
years of rule by military force followed, ending with the election in
1990 of the country's first popularly elected president in modem
history, Jean-Baptiste Aristide.
Aristide's determination to
mitigate the gross inequities of Haitian life (virtually all the
national resources were, and for the most part remain, the personal
possessions of a tiny handful of people) were displeasing to the United
States, and President Aristide was overthrown in a CIA-initiated
military coup after only seven months in office. The perpetrators of
the coup ruled by decree with utter disregard for human rights until
1995 when, following yet another invasion by the United States
military, another "free" election, very poorly attended, put a caretaker government (or rather lack thereof, many would say) in place. A
skeleton US military force remained in place for many years in an incredibly ugly
installation next to the international airport, a daily reminder that
the country is governed under the watchful eye of "big brother"
So
it was in 1999. Subsequently, Aristide was re-elected to a second
(non-consecutive) term, governed for a little over three years before
again fleeing the country (with US help? force?) in the disorders of
2004, the true origin and nature of which remains, perhaps, to be
discovered.
After an "interregnum" under UN and US supervision, yet another election was held, placing in office President René Préval, who may be the first president in modern Haiti to be elected and complete his term — we shall see.
UN presence continues, but much more light-handedly than during the disorders of the past years. There are some encouraging signs perhaps the first time ever the country may in time have a functioning popularly-elected government (the Duvalier governments were "effective", but...!).
The current population of the country is unknown,
but may reasonably be estimated to be about 9 million people, of which
well over a quarter live in Port-au-Prince, the capital city.
Suggested reading — if you have the stomach for it:
Haiti: Best Nightmare on Earth; Herbert Gold; Transaction Publishers; New Brunswick & London, 2001
Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American; Jean-Robert Cadet; University of Texas Press, 1998
Lone Survivor: Judge, Jury and Executioner; Louis Bernard Antoine, MD; Vantage Press, 1998
In the Parish of the Poor: Writings from Haiti; Jean-Bertrand Aristide; Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY, 1993
All Souls' Rising; Maidson Smartt Bell; Penguin Books, 1995
Written in Blood: The Story of the Haitian People, 1492-1995; Robert Debs & Nancy Gordon Heinl; University Press of America; Lambeth, Londan & New York; 1996
The Haitian People; James G. Leyburn; Institute of Haitian Studies, University of Kansas, 1998
And, on a little less grave note (and reaching well beyond Haiti), one of the best books I've read:
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Story of a Man Who Would Cure the World; Tracy Kidder; Random House, 2004. Available in both hard-cover and paperbound from the St. John of Kronstadt Press. If you buy the paper, you'll wish you had bought the hard-cover!