50 Haiti Fun Facts for Inquisitive Travelers

(Last Updated On: April 16, 2021)

Haiti fun facts are quite significant. Situated in the Carreabian, Haiti is a naturally affluent, earthquake-prone country that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic to its east. Interesting facts about Haiti surprise the tourists. Among the tourist spots, Citadelle la Ferrière, a mountaintop fortress, and the nearby ruins of Sans-Souci Palace, the baroque former royal home of King Henry I. are notable along with its blue shores. In this article, I am going to talk about Haiti fun facts.

Haiti Fun Facts

Labadee, a private resort leased to Royal Caribbean International till 2050. Labadee, positioned on the northern coast of Haiti, is known after Marquis de La Badie, a Frenchman who first settled the realm within the 17th century.

Following a failed try to recapture Haiti in 1802 by Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc, Haiti was declared totally independent in 1804.

In 2010, greater than 220,000 people have been killed in Haiti when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the capital Port-au-Prince. This is one of the Haiti fun facts.

Haiti is the poorest nation within the western world when measured by GDP per capita primarily based on buying energy parity (PPP). It can be the poorest nation within the Americas.

Voodooism – or Haitian Vodou – was developed in Haiti throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The official faith relies on ancestral spirits and patron saints. There is a typical adage that claims Haitians are “70% Catholic, 30% Protestant, and 100% Vodou”.

The coordinates for Haiti are 18.5333° N, 72.3333°

The official languages of Haiti embrace French and Haitian Creole. Canada is the one different impartial nation within the Americas that has French as an official language.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck 14 miles west of Haiti in January 2010, destroying a lot of the capital of Port-au-Prince. The estimated loss of life toll ranges exceeded 300,000 people.

The terrain right here is generally tough and mountainous, with plenty of stunning sandy beaches to explore!

On January 1, 1804, Haiti gained its independence from France, and have become the second oldest impartial nation within the Western Hemisphere, after the U.S.

More than 70 completely different dictators dominated Haiti between 1804-1915.

Tourism is likely one of the largest industries in Haiti, with practically 1,000,000 guests arriving by cruise ship. Most cruisers name at Labadee, a non-public resort leased to Royal Caribbean International till 2050. Labadee, positioned on the northern coast of Haiti, is known after Marquis de La Badie, a Frenchman who first settled the realm within the 17th century. The spelling was modified to “Labadee” to make it simpler for English-speakers to pronounce.

Haiti was first inhabited around 5000BC with farming villages established around 300BC. The Arawak people developed massive communities with the Taino finally changing into the dominant Arawak group.

Haiti was the world’s first black-led republic after it threw off French colonial management and slavery within the early 19th century.

Haiti is an impartial nation, occupying the western third of the island of Hispaniola between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.

It shares one border with the Dominican Republic to the east, while its nearest nations are Turks and Caicos Islands to the north, Jamaica to the west, and Cuba to the northwest.

The worldwide dialing code for Haiti is +509

By land measurement, Haiti is the third largest nation within the Caribbean, after primary Cuba and quantity two in the Dominican Republic. This is one of the Haiti fun facts.

The gourd plant has at all times been necessary to Haiti. The Haitian foreign money is known as “gourdes”, and dates again to 1807 when President Christophe made gourds the bottom of the national foreign money.

In 1915, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson dispatched Marines to Haiti to revive order. US troops occupied the Republic of Haiti between 1915 and 1934.

Most Haitians get around by public transportation, often by Tap Tap, a brightly painted bus, college bus, or truck that serves as a shared taxi. When passengers need to get off of the bus, they faucet on the steel body — therefore the “tap tap” title. These automobiles for rent observe mounted routes however they don’t go away till full of passengers, and riders can often disembark at any level. This is one of the Haiti fun facts.

Haiti has one UNESCO World Heritage website, the Citadelle and Sans Souci. The monuments date from the start of the 19th century when Haiti declared its independence.

The Citadelle is the most important fortress within the Western Hemisphere.

Spain colonized the island shortly afterward however would cede the western part of Hispaniola to France in 1697. Renamed Saint-Domingue, this may finally change into Haiti.

The Saint-Domingue colony would change into France’s most affluent New World territory. Thousands of slaves have been transported there from Africa to work on sugar, espresso, cacao, indigo, and cotton plantations.

Zombie is a Haitian phrase. Haitian slaves used the phrase in reference to their perception that dying would launch them again to Guinea, or Africa on the whole, a type of an afterlife the place they’d be free. Suicide was widespread amongst slaves, nevertheless, it was believed that those that took their very own lives could be condemned to stroll the plantations for eternity as an undead slave – or soulless zombie.

Haiti is 27,750 sq. km in measurement, which is barely smaller than the state of Maryland and roughly equal to the state of Vermont.

In truth, Haiti is essentially the most mountainous nation within the Caribbean!

The whole land space of Haiti is 10,714 sq. miles (27,750 sq. kilometers).

Haiti’s inhabitants were 11.12 million in 2018.

In 1929, American Marines have been liable for the Cayes bloodbath when US troopers opened hearth on Haitian civilians killing 12 and wounding 23.

The commonest phrase in Haiti is “pa gen pwoblem,” which it interprets as “no have problem.” Haitians use it in a spread of contexts that embrace replying to a thank-you, affirming well-being, and even to fill an ungainly silence.

Author, statesmen, and former slave Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-1895) was the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti from 1889 -1891.

Haiti is essentially the most mountainous nation within the Caribbean. Hayti is the Indian title for the nation and means “land of the mountains.” Haiti’s mountain peaks attain over 8,000 toes.

16. During radical ex-priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s second time period as Haitian president, the federal government established Voodoo as a state faith together with Catholicism.

According to the CIA World Factbook, voodoo was acknowledged as an official faith in Haiti in 2003, and lots of Haitians apply components of voodoo along with one other faith, most frequently Roman Catholicism. Carnival and New Year’s Day are the most important holidays for many Haitians.

The flag of Haiti is horizontally striped blue and pink. Initially, the Haitian flag was impressed by the French Tricolor flag. However, the white stripe was rapidly eliminated with the brand new blue and pink representing the union of blacks and mulattoes

When the flag is flown by the federal government it consists of the coat of arms, which consists of a palm tree with a liberty cap on prime. It is flanked by flags, rifles, hatchets, cannons, anchors, and masts amongst different symbols. The motto “L’Union fait la force” (“Union makes strength”) is written beneath.

French and Haitian Creole are the official languages of Haiti.

Haiti and Canada are the one-two impartial nations within the Americas to have French as a national language!

Despite having a formidable 14 airports, solely Four have paved runways! This is one of the Haiti fun facts.

It is uncommon to personal an automobile in Haiti and there aren’t any trains; as a substitute, most Haitians journey in buses referred to as ‘Taptaps’!

Haiti is one of two nations that share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Haiti makes up the western one-third of Hispaniola, whereas the Dominican Republic makes up the opposite two-thirds of the island.

On December fifth, 1492, navigator Christopher Columbus landed the Santa Maria at what’s now referred to as Môle-Saint-Nicolas, Haiti. Although the island was inhabited by the Taíno Indians, Columbus claimed the land for Spain.

During the 17th century, the rocky island of Tortuga in Haiti was a pirate stronghold for people who preyed on Spanish treasure ships within the Caribbean.

The capital is Port-au-Prince which covers a space of 13.92 sq. miles (36.04 sq. kilometers) and has inhabitants of two,618,894 (2019).

The common life span right here is 63.29 years (2017)

The residents of Haiti get pleasure from tropical local weather, with the local weather altering to semi-arid within the east the place mountains hinder commerce winds.

In 1791, ex-slave Toussaint L’Ouverture led practically one-half million Haitian slaves in a revolt towards Haiti’s French colonialists. Their eventual victory helped set up Haiti as the primary black republic.

So that you may sip your rum upon a surprising sandy seaside, keep in mind to change your spending cash for Haitian Gourde, the official foreign money of Haiti.

Haiti grows espresso, sugarcane, rice, and mangoes and produces timber. Strong genuine espresso and contemporary juicy mangoes for breakfast… scrumptious!

Its trade consists of tourism, sugar refining, textiles, cement, and flour milling. This is one of the Haiti fun facts.

Colonists from Spain quickly arrange plantations and gold mines, with the natives as labor. With its gold and its ideally suited gateway location to the Caribbean, Hispaniola grew to become a haven for buccaneers or pirates.

French buccaneers settled within the western part of the island of Hispaniola. Under the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain gave France the western third of Hispaniola, which is right this moment’s Haiti. Spain continued the management of the remainder of the island, the Dominican Republic.

To develop espresso, cotton, and sugar cane plantations, the French imported 1000’s of slaves from Africa. By the late 1700s, African slaves outnumbered the French in Haiti by ten to 1.

Haiti additionally exports espresso, oils, and cocoa. This is one of the interesting facts about Haiti.

In doing so it concurrently grew to become the primary impartial Caribbean state and the primary impartial nation in Latin America.

In 1801, the previous black slave cum guerrilla chief Toussaint Louverture conquered Haiti and abolished slavery.

Christopher Columbus was the primary European to discover Haiti in 1492. He landed and named the island La Isla Española (The Spanish Island), which later grew to become Anglicized as Hispaniola. This is one of the interesting facts about Haiti.

Haiti has suffered from mass deforestation. The nation was as soon as coated in verdant forests however land clearance for colonial plantations was adopted by tree felling for charcoal. This has made the nation dangerously uncovered to different environmental threats equivalent to floods and mudslides.

One of the most well-liked sports activities in Haiti is cockfighting – a sport that’s banned in most nations. Roosters are revered animals in Haiti and determine prominently in voodoo ceremonies.

The title Haiti means “mountainous country” within the language of the indigenous Taíno Indians.

Haiti is the second oldest impartial nation within the Western Hemisphere, after the USA. This is one of the interesting facts about Haiti.

The USA invaded and occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934 following an interval of instability in Haiti. The US President Woodrow Wilson was involved in American industrial and political effects in Haiti was under menace so ordered the invasion.