Haiti

Haiti covers the western part of Hispaniola, an island it shares with the Dominican Republic, east of Cuba and Jamaica. Port-au-Prince is the capital, and French and Haitian Creole are the two official languages. Mountains fill most of its 27,750 km² (10,710 sq mi), and Pic la Selle is the highest point at 2,680 m (8,793 ft).

Taíno people lived here when Christopher Columbus founded La Navidad on the northeastern coast in 1492, the first European settlement in the Americas. Spain gave the western third of the island to France in 1697, and as Saint-Domingue it became the richest French colony, growing sugar and coffee. The Haitian Revolution began in August 1791, led at first by Toussaint Louverture. Jean-Jacques Dessalines beat the French at Vertières on 18 November 1803 and declared independence on 1 January 1804, making Haiti the first independent state of the Caribbean.

Henri Christophe then ruled the north as the Kingdom of Haiti, and the country was reunited in 1820. France recognized the new state in 1825, and after the empire of Faustin Soulouque the republic returned in 1859. Haiti was a founding member of the United Nations and the Organization of American States. Jean-Bertrand Aristide won the election of 1990, and the country is a semi-presidential republic with a president chosen by direct vote every five years.

Farming employs many people, and money sent by Haitians abroad equals a fifth of the economy. Haiti supplies half of the world's vetiver, a root used in perfume, and exports mangoes, cacao and coffee; the currency is the gourde. The Citadelle Laferrière, built from 1805 to 1820, and the Sans-Souci Palace are a World Heritage Site, Vodou gained official recognition in 2003, and compas music and soup joumou belong to its culture.