History

Recent History

Despite hopes to the contrary, Aristide was unable to fuse the disparate forces that were tearing the country apart. A rebellion during independence celebrations in early 2004 (that seemed to enjoy the tacit support of key members of the international community) forced him into exile - first to the Central African Republic, then Jamaica, and finally South Africa. The political crisis was followed by the somewhat more devastating Tropical Storm Jeanne, which killed more than 3000 people and left 200,000 homeless. Economic turmoil and the ensuing humanitarian crises were only partially relieved by US$1 billion in aid sent by international donors. New presidential elections in February 2006 saw Préval return to power, following a deal reached over spoiled ballot papers. Hopes of political stabilisation, however, have taken a backseat to rising violence - Haiti recently took over Colombia's long-held title of the kidnapping capital of the world. Needless to say, the endless bouts of poverty, devastated infrastructure, gang warfare and an indifference by the international community act as a reminder of the old Haitian proverb: Déyé món, gen món. (Behind the mountains there are more mountains.)

Modern Day History

Haiti's strategic importance was highlighted by the opening of the Panama Canal. When a Haitian president was killed by an angry mob in 1915, US troops seized Haiti's gold deposits, revamped the constitution and disbanded the army. They implemented public works, building hospitals, clinics and roads with the use of prison labour.

The Cacos Rebellions against the US occupation were brutally quashed. Thousands died. The Americans were dealing directly with the mulatto upper classes and, by taking pride in Haitian culture and reclaiming the much-maligned Vodou religion, the black population found inspiration for semi-peaceful resistance and a champion of their own cultural identity, popular rabble rouser Dr François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier.

When the Americans finally pulled out in 1934, they left behind little infrastructure and a shattered economy. Many Haitians went to work in Dominican sugarcane fields, causing racial and economic tensions in that country and, finally, ethnic cleansing that claimed 20,000 Haitian lives.

The rift between the mulattos and blacks continued to deepen, and the chaotic elections of 1956 (during which women were allowed to vote for the first time) brought 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, running on an exotic platform of nationalism, racism and mysticism, to power. The mulattos resisted the election results, organising a strike in Port-au-Prince. Duvalier unleashed his cagoulards, hooded thugs from impoverished neighbourhoods, and forced shopkeepers to reopen. Later called the Tontons Macoutes, named for a fairytale bogeyman, these became Duvalier's unofficial troops, dressed in denim 'uniforms', with red neckerchiefs and sunglasses.

When Duvalier died in 1971, the constitution he'd rewritten guaranteed his son, Jean Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier, the presidency. He pandered to mulatto 'modernisers' and instituted brutal state repression of political opponents. The international community didn't notice. But, in the early 1980s, US officials identified Haiti as a high-risk zone for the then poorly understood AIDS virus; tourism bottomed out. A US-mismanaged pig-disease eradication program, in which 1.7 million porkers were mistakenly slaughtered, shattered the subsistance farmers' fragile economy. The resulting suffering and chaos forced the Duvalier family into exile in 1986, leaving behind a jubilant, if broke, population.

Though the army appointed a Duvalier confidant president, a grassroots Catholic organization was growing. One young priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was particularly incendiary. Within a year, an army coup installed another general, who fled the country in 1990. Fresh elections pitted the usual suspects against one another, but the last minute candidacy of Aristide brought the people to the polls. The young priest was the new president of Haiti.

Aristide spent the first few months making reforms and enemies. Thousands died during another coup in September 1991, but Aristide made it out alive. A half-hearted international embargo was announced, but it was only when 38,000 Haitians decided to emigrate to the US in rickety boats - during a US election year - that things started happening. Sort of.

UN police swept in, but were prevented from docking by the resurrected Macoutes. Former US President Jimmy Carter negotiated Aristide's return in 1994, but Aristide had less than a year left of his term. The 1995 elections saw Aristide's protégé, René Préval, take power, but he was soon accused of working with the same elite institutions of the Haitian power structure. Aristide founded his own party.

Dissent between Aristide's supporters and opponents led to the cancellation of 1997 and 1998 parlimentary elections, preventing Préval from appointing a prime minister. Hurricane Georges hit hard in 1998, devastating the country and economy.

Préval called for fresh parliamentary elections to be held in April 2000, but changed his mind at the last minute and decided to rule by decree only. His old mentor Aristide, 'Titid', as his supporters call him, contested the November 2000 elections and came out on top.

Pre 20th Century History

The earliest known inhabitants of Haiti reached the island about 2600 BC, using huge dug-out canoes that allowed them to ride the current from South America and the southern tip of the Lesser Antilles north and west into the Greater Antilles. A second group, often referred to as the Salanoids or ancient Arawaks, reached Hispaniola about 250 BC. The group spread throughout the Antilles.

A third migration, from Venezuela, swept through the Antilles about 2000 years ago, and by AD 700 occupied Haiti and most of the surrounding islands. They called themselves the Taino (friendly people), and an estimated 400,000 of them lived on Hispanola when Italian adventurer Christopher Columbus got off the ship to greet them. Folks on another island had told Columbus that there was gold to be found there, and he set off in the night to find it. Although most Tainos died during the next 25 years at the hands of Spanish slave drivers (or Spanish viruses), their contributions to the world - barbecue, tobacco, canoe and hammock are all Taino words - live on.

By 1519, the gold mines were empty and the Tainos all but extinct, so the Spanish imported African slaves and grew sugarcane. As the 1600s began, the Spanish citizens on the western end of Hispaniola traded illegally with the French. The troops were sent in and those treasonous areas depopulated. The French traders moved into the empty towns, further frustrating Spain's ambitions.

Between 1669 and 1679, a hurricane, a smallpox epidemic and an outright war between France and Spain convinced Spanish colonists that there would have to be a compromise, and they agreed to let the French settlements grow, but only on the western third of the island. Spain established a border in 1731, amended in a treaty with France in 1777, creating the territory of Saint-Domingue.

Mulattos, the children of white masters and African slaves, were technically free but treated as second-class citizens by the white minority. Their call for equality was echoed in the slave community, who made up the vast majority of the population. At the May 1803 Congress of Arcahaie, rebel leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines grabbed the French tricolor flag of blue, white and red, and tore the white out of it, declaring that he would rip the white man out of the country. Dessalines flew the new flag over victory after victory while his tactical genius and bloodthirsty methods became legendary. On January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared independence for Haiti. It was the first black-led republic.

The republic didn't last long. Dessalines soon crowned himself emperor, ratified a constitution that gave him absolute power and began patrolling the countryside exterminating those white persons foolish enough to stay on his side of the island. The European powers isolated the new country economically. When Dessalines imposed a military decree that forced many blacks back onto the plantation he was ambushed and assassinated.

A civil war ensued as the country fell into a prolonged period of unrest. The government annexed the rest of Hispaniola in 1821 (the eastern end of the island stayed under Haitian control until 1849, when it declared independence as the Dominican Republic). Of the 22 heads of state that ruled between 1843 and 1915, only one served out his entire term; the rest were assassinated or forced into exile.