|
|
 |
|
|
Background on Haiti
Geography: 10,714 square miles (slightly larger than the state of Maryland)
Population: 7.9 million
Population below poverty line: 75 percent (1998 est.)
Religion: Roman Catholic 80 percent, Protestant 16 percent, Voodoo practice widespread
Languages: French (official) 20 percent, Creole
Life expectancy: 51.65 years
Infant mortality rate: 97.64 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)
|
Located 600 miles southeast of Florida, Haiti shares the western third of the island of Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Caribbean, with the Dominican Republic. Hispaniola was discovered by Columbus in 1492 and was colonized first by the Spanish, then the French.
Almost all Haitians are descendants of slaves who won their freedom when they overthrew the French colonial government in 1804 to set up an independent republic. Long ago, the indigenous Arawak people were either killed outright by conquering Spaniards or succumbed to disease. Haiti was the second nation after the United States to claim independence in the Western Hemisphere. Today it is the least developed nation of the Western Hemisphere. The country's economy is overwhelmingly agricultural with coffee, sugar refining, textiles, flour milling and light assembly industries accounting for most economic production.
|
|
|
|
|
|