The native Taino - who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when Christopher COLUMBUS first landed on it in 1492 - were virtually wiped out by Spanish settlers within 25 years. In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola. In 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island, which later became Haiti. The French colony, based on forestry and sugar-related industries, became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean but relied heavily on the forced labor of enslaved Africans and environmentally degrading practices. In the late 18th century, Toussaint L'OUVERTURE led a revolution of Haiti's nearly half a million slaves that ended France's rule on the island. After a prolonged struggle, and under the leadership of Jean-Jacques DESSALINES, Haiti became the first country in the world led by former slaves after declaring its independence in 1804, but it was forced to pay an indemnity of 100 million francs (equivalent to $22 billion USD in March 2023) to France for more than a century and was shunned by other countries for nearly 40 years. On 12 July 1862, the US officially recognized Haiti, but foreign economic influence and internal political instability induced the US to occupy Haiti from 1915-1934. Subsequently, Francois \"Papa Doc\" DUVALIER and then his son Jean-Claude \"Baby Doc\" DUVALIER led repressive and corrupt regimes that ruled Haiti in 1957-1971 and 1971-1986, respectively. President Jovenel MOISE was assassinated on 7 July 2021, leading the country further into an extra-constitutional governance structure and contributing to the country’s growing fragility. On 20 July 2021, the Government of Haiti installed Ariel HENRY - whom President MOISE had nominated shortly before his death - as prime minister. As of March 2023, Haiti had no sitting elected officials. The country has long been plagued by natural disasters. In January 2010, a major 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti with an epicenter about 25 km (15 mi) west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Estimates are that over 300,000 people were killed and some 1.5 million left homeless. The earthquake was assessed as the worst in this region over the last 200 years. A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti’s southern peninsula in August 2021, causing well over 2,000 deaths; an estimated 500,000 required emergency humanitarian aid. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, as well as one of the most unequal in wealth distribution.
" } }, "Geography": { "Location": { "text": "Caribbean, western one-third of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic" }, "Geographic coordinates": { "text": "19 00 N, 72 25 W" }, "Map references": { "text": "Central America and the Caribbean" }, "Area": { "total": { "text": "27,750 sq km" }, "land": { "text": "27,560 sq km" }, "water": { "text": "190 sq km" } }, "Area - comparative": { "text": "slightly smaller than Maryland" }, "Land boundaries": { "total": { "text": "376 km" }, "border countries": { "text": "Dominican Republic 376 km" } }, "Coastline": { "text": "1,771 km" }, "Maritime claims": { "territorial sea": { "text": "12 nm" }, "contiguous zone": { "text": "24 nm" }, "exclusive economic zone": { "text": "200 nm" }, "continental shelf": { "text": "to depth of exploitation" } }, "Climate": { "text": "tropical; semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds" }, "Terrain": { "text": "mostly rough and mountainous" }, "Elevation": { "highest point": { "text": "Pic la Selle 2,674 m" }, "lowest point": { "text": "Caribbean Sea 0 m" }, "mean elevation": { "text": "470 m" } }, "Natural resources": { "text": "bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, hydropower, arable land" }, "Land use": { "agricultural land": { "text": "66.4% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: arable land": { "text": "arable land: 38.5% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent crops": { "text": "permanent crops: 10.2% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent pasture": { "text": "permanent pasture: 17.7% (2018 est.)" }, "forest": { "text": "3.6% (2018 est.)" }, "other": { "text": "30% (2018 est.)" } }, "Irrigated land": { "text": "800 sq km (2013)" }, "Population distribution": { "text": "fairly even distribution; largest concentrations located near coastal areas" }, "Natural hazards": { "text": "lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and subject to severe storms from June to October; occasional flooding and earthquakes; periodic droughts" }, "Geography - note": { "text": "shares island of Hispaniola with Dominican Republic (western one-third is Haiti, eastern two-thirds is the Dominican Republic); it is the most mountainous nation in the Caribbean" } }, "People and Society": { "Population": { "text": "11,470,261 (2023 est.)" }, "Nationality": { "noun": { "text": "Haitian(s)" }, "adjective": { "text": "Haitian" } }, "Ethnic groups": { "text": "Black 95%, mixed and White 5%" }, "Languages": { "Languages": { "text": "French (official), Creole (official)" }, "major-language sample(s)": { "text": "The World Factbook, une source indispensable d'informations de base. (French)per 2019 data released by Haitian telecommunications regulator CONATEL (Conseil National des Télécommunications), there are 398 legal sound broadcasting stations on the territory, including about 60 community radio stations, and 7 radio stations on the AM band; the FM band in Haiti is oversaturated by 158 percent; most radio stations broadcast 17 to 19 hours a day; there are 105 television stations operating in Haiti, including 36 TV stations in Port- au- Prince, 41 others in the provinces, and more than 40 radio-television stations; a large number of broadcasting stations operate irregularly and some stations operate with technical parameters that do not comply with established standards, thus causing harmful interference to existing telecommunications systems; VOA Creole Service broadcasts daily on 30 affiliate stations
(2019)" }, "Internet country code": { "text": ".ht" }, "Internet users": { "total": { "text": "4.29 million (2021 est.)" }, "percent of population": { "text": "39% (2021 est.)" } }, "Broadband - fixed subscriptions": { "total": { "text": "31,000 (2020 est.)" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "0.3 (2020 est.)" } } }, "Transportation": { "National air transport system": { "number of registered air carriers": { "text": "1 (2020)" }, "inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers": { "text": "1" } }, "Civil aircraft registration country code prefix": { "text": "HH" }, "Airports": { "text": "14 (2021)" }, "Airports - with paved runways": { "text": "4", "note": "note: paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)" }, "Airports - with unpaved runways": { "text": "10", "note": "note: unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control" }, "Roadways": { "total": { "text": "4,102 km (2011)" }, "paved": { "text": "600 km (2011)" }, "unpaved": { "text": "3,502 km (2011)" } }, "Merchant marine": { "total": { "text": "4" }, "by type": { "text": "general cargo 3, other 1 (2022)" } }, "Ports and terminals": { "major seaport(s)": { "text": "Cap-Haitien, Gonaives, Jacmel, Port-au-Prince" } } }, "Military and Security": { "Military and security forces": { "text": "the Haitian Armed Forces (FAdH), disbanded in 1995, began to be reconstituted in 2017; it established an Army command in 2018" }, "Military and security service personnel strengths": { "text": "up to 2,000 military troops (the force is planned to eventually have around 5,000 personnel); estimates for the National Police range from a low of 9,000 to a high of about 13,000 (2023)" }, "Military service age and obligation": { "text": "not available" }, "Military - note": { "text": "Haiti's military was disbanded in 1995 after it participated in multiple coups and was accused of other political interference and human rights violations; the military was reinstated by former President MOISE in 2017 after the UN ended its peacekeeping operation in Haiti; the reconstituted military established an Army command in 2018 and has received training assistance from Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico; the military’s stated mission is to assist with natural disaster relief, border security, and combating transnational crime; in 2023, Prime Minister HENRY called upon the military to assist the National Police (PNH) in combating armed gangs, which have overwhelmed the PNH, killed hundreds of Haitians, and seized control of much of the capital Port-au-Prince since the assassination of President MOISE in 2021; in 2023, an estimated 200 armed gangs were operating in Haiti
since 2004, peacekeepers from the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti have assisted in maintaining civil order in Haiti; the mission currently includes 6,685 military, 2,607 police, and 443 civilian personnel; despite efforts to control illegal migration, Haitians cross into the Dominican Republic and sail to neighboring countries; Haiti claims US-administered Navassa Island
" }, "Refugees and internally displaced persons": { "IDPs": { "text": "17,000 (violence among armed gangs in the metropolitan area os Port-au-Prince) (2021)" }, "stateless persons": { "text": "2,992 (2018); note - individuals without a nationality who were born in the Dominican Republic prior to January 2010" } }, "Trafficking in persons": { "tier rating": { "text": "Tier 2 Watch List — Haiti does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; Haiti adopted national standard operating procedures for victim identification and support, improved oversight of vulnerable children in orphanages, completed a new national action plan, conducted extensive anti-trafficking training, and collaborated with NGOs on victim identification; however, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared with the previous year to expand its anti-trafficking capacity; traffickers operated with impunity and complicity, particularly in high-profile cases; no anti-trafficking law enforcement or victim protection efforts were reported apart from those involving children; the government did not fund the National Committee for the Fight Against Human Trafficking or adult victim services in fiscal year 2021 and made insufficient efforts to combat child domestic servitude; therefore, Haiti remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the second consecutive year (2022)" }, "trafficking profile": { "text": "human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Haiti, as well as Haitians abroad; most of Haiti’s trafficking cases involve children in forced labor and sex trafficking in domestic service; NGOs estimate between 150,000 and 300,000 children work in domestic servitude, of which about two-thirds are girls and one-third boys--mostly victims of sex trafficking and labor trafficking, respectively; Haitian women and girls seeking jobs are instead exploited in commercial sex in the Dominican Republic or for sex tourism; child sex tourism reportedly takes place in Haiti, with most tourists coming from the United States, Canada, and Europe; traffickers target Haitian children in private or NGO-sponsored residential care centers, children working in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, internally displaced persons—including those displaced by natural disasters and gang violence—stateless people, Haitian migrants traveling from or returning to Haiti, and LGBTQI+ youth; female foreign nationals, especially from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, are particularly at risk for sex and labor trafficking in Haiti; Cuban medical workers in Haiti may have been forced to work by the Cuban government (2022)" } }, "Illicit drugs": { "text": "a transit point for cocaine from South America and marijuana from Jamaica en route to the United States; not a producer or large consumer of illicit drugs; some cultivation of cannabis for local consumption
" } } }