Haitian's Llife

Identification. Haiti, a name that means "mountainous country," is derived from the language of the Taino Indians who inhabited the island before European colonization. After independence in 1804, the name was adopted by the military generals, many of them former slaves, who expelled the French and took possession of the colony then known as Saint Domingue. In 2000, 95 percent of the population was of African descent, and the remaining 5 percent mulatto and white. Some wealthy citizens think of themselves as French, but most residents identify themselves as Haitian and there is a strong sense of nationalism.

Location and Geography. Haiti covers 10,714 square miles (27,750 square kilometers). It is located in the subtropics on the western third of Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Caribbean, which it shares with the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic. The neighboring islands include Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Three-quarters of the terrain is mountainous; the highest peak is the Morne de Selle. The climate is mild, varying with altitude. The mountains are calcareous rather than volcanic and give way to widely varying microclimatic and soil conditions. A tectonic fault line runs through the country, causing occasional and sometimes devastating earthquakes. The island is also located within the Caribbean hurricane belt.

Demography. The population has grown steadily from 431,140 at independence in 1804 to the estimate of 6.9 million to 7.2 million in 2000. Haiti is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Until the 1970s, over 80 percent of the population resided in rural areas, and today, over 60 percent continue to live in provincial villages, hamlets, and homesteads scattered across the rural landscape. The capital city is Port-au-Prince, which is five times larger than the next biggest city, Cape Haitian.

Over one million native-born Haitians live overseas; an additional fifty thousand leave the country every year, predominantly for the United States but also to Canada and France. Approximately 80 percent of permanent migrants come from the educated middle and upper classes, but very large numbers of lower-class Haitians temporarily migrate to the Dominican Republic and Nassau Bahamas to work at low-income jobs in the informal economy. An unknown number of lower-income migrants remain abroad.

Linguistic Affiliation. For most of the nation's history the official language has been French. However, the language spoken by the vast majority of the people is kreyol, whose pronunciation and vocabulary are derived largely from French but whose syntax is similar to that of other creoles. With the adoption of a new constitution in 1987, kreyol was given official status as the primary official language. French was relegated to the status of a secondary official language but continues to prevail among the elite and in government, functioning as marker of social class and a barrier to the less educated and the poor. An estimated 5 to 10 percent of the population speaks fluent French, but in recent decades massive emigration to the United States and the availability of cable television from the United States have helped English replace French as the second language in many sectors of the population.

Symbolism. Residents attach tremendous importance to the expulsion of the French in 1804, an event that made Haiti the first independently black-ruled nation in the world and one of the most resented because of their action by the rest of the world, only the second country in the Western Hemisphere to achieve independence from imperial Europe. The most noted national symbols are the flag, Henri Christophe's Citadel and the statue of the "unknown maroon" (Maroon inconnu), a bare-chested revolutionary.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Haitians
• Haiti
• Ayiti

[Racheya7]

@exeuroweenie well we are ;)

[exeuroweenie]

The Haitians I've known are really goodlooking.

[Kurvenz]

remember home so much!!

watch?v=Fx0q4XNk5FA

[thermiscira]

@nobama4ever you mean like they do to you and your mom?lol loose ends,lol

[Socute425]

if people only knew was once a strong nation it was so strong the united states ask them for help in gaining their independence. not only that but all of haiti's riches were takenand place in museums. no judgement on anyone but the history is so messed up tht we forget whats true or not but I AM PROUD TO BE HAITIAN ALL DAY and one day i will help my country out

[checkers1245]

Haiti was a poor and struggling country way before the earthquake ever happened. Too bad their Government is to corrupt. They wont even help their own people. The U.S. gave them money and food and it isn't even getting to the people who really need it.

[GE4AnewnOW]

This is Beautiful. Yea the Haiti I remember.

[stefanoGFsiciliano]

Haiti's catastrophe is only the first of many to come. Nature nor the Universe has shown any race or civilization mercy. As we draw nearer to the galactic countdown these catastrophes will bring our society to the brink of corruption and financial debt. Years of anarchy will fallow and the eventual extinction of mankind. I'm afraid Haiti's earthquake is barley a mere fraction of what the planet can unleash and what the universe has in store is far more deadly that any natural disaster.

[nobama4ever]

fuck haiti up its shitty ass

[woyay]

then leave the fucking country... they had a stroke of bad luck... is all.