An Introduction to Haiti
The Republic of Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, with the Dominican Republic taking the rest. Its history is unique: it was the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the first black-led republic in the world and is the only contemporary nation born of a slave revolt. A colony of Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the territory passed to France in 1697 and became the richest French colony in the New World. An uprising from 1791 onwards finally won independence in 1804. President Jean Pierre Boyer ruled from 1821 to 1843 - for all but the first year, as leader of the whole island of Hispaniola. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Latin America
GOVERNMENT: Semi-presidential republic
AREA: 27,750 sq km
POPULATION: 9,719,932 (2011 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Official Languages: French, Creole
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in Haiti
The Haitian slaves' official Declaration of Independence, which was believed to have been destroyed or lost, was found in February 2010,by a Canadian graduate student from Duke University in Britain's National Archives and can be seen at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/dol/images/examples/haiti/0001.pdf .
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The Republic of Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, with the Dominican Republic taking the rest. Its history is unique: it was the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the first black-led republic in the world and is the only contemporary nation born of a slave revolt. A colony of Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the territory passed to France in 1697 and became the richest French colony in the New World. An uprising from 1791 onwards finally won independence in 1804. President Jean Pierre Boyer ruled from 1821 to 1843 - for all but the first year, as leader of the whole island of Hispaniola.
The US occupied Haiti from 1915-1934. From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was governed by the hereditary dictatorship of the Duvalier family - until his death in 1971 by the infamous'Papa Doc' Franois Duvalier and thereafter by Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc'. Since then, a series of coups and assassination attempts, along with human rights abuses and government involvement in drug trafficking, have left the country perennially unstable. An earthquake in January 2010 devastated Port-au-Prince killing more than 200,000 and has only added to Haiti's massive problems. It remains the poorest country in the Americas.
GDP: $12.4bn (2011 est.); $1,167 per capita
Religions Religion: Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3%. Voodoo is also widely practised by those of many religions.
Currency: Haitian gourde. 42 HTG = $US 1
Telephone Code: + 509
Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere even before the earthquake in January 2010 killed approx 300,000 people and left a further million homeless. Notorious political instability has led to 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% living in abject poverty. Haiti has consistently ranked among the most corrupt states in the world and successive governments and ruling elites have stripped the country of its meagre resources.
In 2005 the country had an external debt of US$1.3bn. However in 2009 it qualified for the IMF and World Bank's programme for cancellation of these debts.
The country has a duty free agreement with the US which has considerably helped with apparel sales - these account for approx 90% of exports and 10% of GDP. Other exports include manufactured goods, oils, cocoa, mangoes and coffee. The vast majority (90%) of these go to the US and the rest to Canada and France. Haiti imports food, manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, fuels and raw materials from the US (51%), the Dominican Republic (19%) and China (11%). Total exports were just $491m in 2008 and imports were $2.1bn in 2007.
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