50 Fun Facts About Haiti

Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with which other country?

Haiti takes up the western third of the island; the two countries are divided by a 390-kilometre land border.

What is the capital and largest city of Haiti?

In Haitian Creole the city is written Pòtoprens, and it sits on the Gulf of Gonâve on the country's west coast.

The name Haiti comes from the Taíno language and means what?

The Taíno used the name for the whole island, and Haiti's revolutionaries revived it in 1804 in place of the colonial name.

What are the two official languages of Haiti?

Almost every Haitian speaks Creole, while only a minority are fluent in French, which long dominated schools and government.

In which year did Haiti become the only country established by a successful slave revolt?

It was also the first country in the Americas to abolish slavery outright and the second republic in the hemisphere after the United States.

The Haitian Revolution began with a mass slave uprising in which year?

Tradition holds that the uprising was launched after a Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman led by the priest Dutty Boukman.

Before independence, Haiti was a European colony known by what name?

By the late 1700s it was the richest colony in the world, producing much of Europe's sugar and coffee on the backs of enslaved Africans.

Where was Toussaint Louverture jailed after deportation, dying there in 1803?

He was held in a cold mountain fortress in the Jura and died there in April 1803, less than a year before the independence he had fought for.

Who declared Haiti's independence in 1804 and became its first emperor?

He ruled as Jacques I and was assassinated in October 1806, barely two years after taking the crown.

The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, was fought in which year?

The defeat forced Napoleon's expeditionary army to evacuate the colony, and 18 November is now celebrated as Armed Forces Day in Haiti.

Which revolutionary leader crowned himself king of northern Haiti in 1811, its only monarch?

He created a full nobility with dukes and counts and, unpopular and ill, took his own life in 1820, reputedly with a silver bullet.

The Citadelle Laferrière and the Sans-Souci Palace were named UNESCO World Heritage Sites in which year?

The palace, once called the Versailles of the Caribbean, was wrecked by an earthquake in 1842 and has stood in ruins ever since.

In 1825 Haiti agreed to pay an indemnity to which country in exchange for recognition of its independence?

The former colonial power demanded payment for its "lost property", including enslaved people, and the debt weighed on Haiti's finances for well over a century.

The American occupation of Haiti that began in 1915 lasted until which year?

The Marines stayed for 19 years, and the occupation was pushed by a New York bank that wanted control of Haiti's finances.

What was the nickname of François Duvalier, dictator of Haiti from 1957 to 1971?

He had trained as a physician, hence the nickname, and had himself declared president for life in 1964.

What was the name of the feared death squad that enforced the Duvalier regime?

The name comes from a Creole folk tale about a bogeyman who carries off misbehaving children in a sack.

François Duvalier was succeeded in 1971 by his son, who ruled until 1986. What was the son's nickname?

Jean-Claude was only 19 when he took power, making him one of the world's youngest heads of state at the time.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who served several terms as Haiti's president from 1991, had earlier been what?

He preached liberation theology to the poor of the capital's slums before becoming Haiti's first democratically elected president, and was ousted by coups twice.

The catastrophic 2010 Haiti earthquake, which struck on 12 January, had what magnitude?

The epicentre was only about 25 km from the capital, and the presidential palace, parliament and cathedral all collapsed.

The epicentre of the 2010 earthquake was near which town, about 25 km west of the capital?

Estimates put the death toll anywhere from around 100,000 to more than 300,000, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes ever recorded.

Haitian president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his home in the capital in which year?

A group of mostly Colombian mercenaries carried out the attack, and the killing plunged the country into a deep political crisis.

What is the national currency of Haiti?

Prices are often quoted in "Haitian dollars", an informal unit worth five gourdes that dates from a time when the currency was pegged to the US dollar.

What is the highest peak in Haiti?

At 2,574 metres it rises in the Massif de la Selle south-east of the capital, and its slopes hold some of Haiti's last remaining pine forest.

What is the longest river in Haiti, and on the whole island of Hispaniola?

It rises in the Dominican Republic and feeds the Péligre dam and Haiti's main rice-growing valley before reaching the sea.

Which is the largest of the islands off Haiti's coast, lying in the gulf that shares its name?

It sits in the bay directly west of the capital and is home to tens of thousands of people despite having very little fresh water.

The island of Tortuga off Haiti's north coast was famous in the 17th century as a haven for what?

French buccaneers based there raided Spanish shipping, and the island later lent its name to the pirate port in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Haiti is divided into how many departments, its largest administrative units?

The newest, Nippes, was carved out of Grand'Anse in 2003; the departments are further split into arrondissements and communes.

Where does Haiti rank among Caribbean countries by area?

Around 11.4 million people live in a country slightly smaller than the US state of Maryland.

From the remains of which ship did Columbus build La Navidad on Haiti's coast in 1492?

The flagship ran aground on Christmas Day, which gave the fort its name; the 39 men left behind were all dead by the time Columbus returned a year later.

Haitian Creole is a creole language based mainly on which European language?

Its vocabulary is largely French but its grammar owes much to West African languages, and it is spoken by more than 13 million people worldwide.

Haitian Vodou arose through syncretism between West and Central African religions and which faith?

Many of its spirits, called lwa, are paired with Catholic saints, and it was officially recognised as a religion in Haiti in 2003.

Soup joumou, eaten every 1 January to celebrate independence, is a soup made from what?

Under French rule enslaved people were forbidden to eat it, so after independence Haitians claimed the soup as a taste of freedom.

Griot, one of Haiti's best-loved dishes, is made from which meat, marinated in citrus and then fried?

It is usually served with pikliz, a fiery pickled cabbage and Scotch bonnet slaw, and fried plantains.

The Barbancourt family business, Haiti's famous rum maker, began producing rum in which year?

Unlike most Caribbean rums, it is distilled from fresh cane juice rather than molasses, in the agricole style.

Compas, or konpa, the modern méringue dance music of Haiti, was created by which bandleader in the 1950s?

He was a saxophonist, and his big-band style still dominates Haitian dance floors and Carnival.

Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean first found fame as a member of which hip-hop trio?

He later ran for president of Haiti in 2010 but was ruled ineligible because he had not lived in the country for the required five years.

Under what stage name was Haitian president Michel Martelly a famous musician?

He was famous for raunchy compas performances before swapping the stage for the presidential palace.

The motto on Haiti's coat of arms, L'Union fait la force, translates as what?

The arms show a palm tree topped with a cap of liberty, surrounded by cannons and flags, and appear on the white panel of the national flag.

The flag of Haiti is a bicolour of two horizontal bands in which colours?

Legend says Dessalines created it in 1803 by ripping the white stripe out of the colonial power's tricolour.

Haiti's national football team qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in which year?

At the 1974 tournament in West Germany, Emmanuel Sanon scored to end Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff's record run of 1,142 minutes without conceding.

Sylvio Cator, Haiti's Olympic medallist, won silver at the 1928 Games in which event?

He briefly held the world record in the event, and the national stadium in the capital is named after him.

Michaëlle Jean, born in Haiti's capital, served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of which country?

She later became secretary-general of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the first woman to hold the post.

Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat's first novel, an Oprah's Book Club selection, is titled what?

She was 25 when it appeared, and she has since won a MacArthur "genius" grant and a National Book Critics Circle Award.

Anacaona, the celebrated Taíno cacica, poet and composer, was born in what is now which Haitian town?

She was executed by the Spanish in 1504 and is remembered as a national heroine, celebrated in songs and Carnival floats.

Which Haitian beach resort did Duvalier lease to Royal Caribbean in 1985?

The fenced-off peninsula on the north coast is Haiti's biggest tourist site, though many visitors never realise which country they are in.

What is the largest lake in Haiti, lying along the border with its eastern neighbour?

Its name means "brackish pond", it has no outlet to the sea, and it is home to American crocodiles and flamingos.

Columbus's flagship ran aground on 25 December 1492 near which present-day Haitian city?

The northern city later served as the capital of the French colony and of Henri Christophe's kingdom, and is Haiti's second city today.

Which ruler made reunified Haiti a second empire before the republic returned in 1859?

He crowned himself Emperor Faustin I in 1849 with a ceremony modelled on Napoleon's and created his own imperial nobility.

Which New York bank persuaded Wilson to take control of Haiti's finances, leading to the 1915 occupation?

The bank is known today as Citibank, and US Marines had already removed Haiti's gold reserves to New York the year before.

Which dictator ordered the 1937 Parsley massacre of thousands of Haitians near the border?

Soldiers reportedly held up sprigs of parsley and demanded victims name it in Spanish, using pronunciation to pick out Haitians.