Haiti occupies the western third of Hispaniola, covering 27,750 square kilometers. The Dominican Republic controls the remaining eastern portion. The country's terrain consists primarily of mountains, with the Massif de la Selle in the south and the Massif du Nord in the north. Pic la Selle reaches 2,680 meters, making it the highest point in Haiti. The Artibonite River, stretching 320 kilometers, is the longest river on the island. Major islands include Gonâve Island in the Gulf of Gonâve and Tortuga Island off the northern coast. The Tiburon Peninsula extends from the southern mainland into the Caribbean Sea. Port-au-Prince, the capital, sits on the Gulf of Gonâve with a metropolitan population exceeding 2.6 million. Cap-Haïtien, the second-largest city with approximately 190,000 residents, anchors the north coast.
Haiti's population stands at approximately 11.5 million, making it the most populous country in the Caribbean. Roughly 95 percent identify as Afro-Haitian, descended from enslaved Africans brought to the island during French colonial rule. The remaining population includes mixed-race Haitians and small communities of European and Middle Eastern descent. French and Haitian Creole serve as official languages, with Creole spoken universally and French used primarily in government, education, and formal settings. The country ranks as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, with a per capita GDP of approximately 1,800 dollars. More than half the population lives below the poverty line. Average life expectancy hovers around 64 years. Literacy rates reach approximately 61 percent, with significant rural-urban disparities.
The Taíno people inhabited Hispaniola before European contact, establishing agricultural communities across the island. Christopher Columbus arrived on December 5, 1492, claiming the island for Spain and naming it La Isla Española. Spanish colonization decimated the indigenous population through disease, forced labor, and violence. By 1550, the Taíno population had effectively disappeared. France established a presence on the western portion of the island in the 1600s, formalizing control through the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, which ceded the western third to France as Saint-Domingue. The French colony became the wealthiest in the Americas by the 1780s, producing 40 percent of the world's sugar and more than half its coffee. This prosperity rested entirely on enslaved African labor. By 1789, Saint-Domingue contained approximately 500,000 enslaved people, 32,000 European colonists, and 28,000 free people of color.
The Haitian Revolution began on August 14, 1791, when enslaved people and free blacks gathered at Bois Caïman in the northern mountains. Dutty Boukman, an enslaved Vodou priest, led a ceremony that preceded a coordinated uprising across the northern plains. Within weeks, hundreds of plantations burned and thousands of enslaved people had joined the rebellion. The revolt evolved into a complex thirteen-year struggle involving enslaved Africans, free people of color, French colonists, British invaders, and Spanish forces. Toussaint Louverture emerged as the principal military and political leader by 1797, establishing control over most of the colony and maintaining nominal allegiance to France while operating with practical autonomy. Napoleon sent an expeditionary force of 43,000 troops in 1802 to restore French authority and potentially reinstate slavery. Louverture was captured through deception in June 1802 and died in a French prison in April 1803.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines assumed military command after Louverture's capture. His forces defeated the French at the Battle of Vertières on November 18, 1803, the final major engagement of the revolution. On January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared Haiti independent, making it the first independent black republic and the second independent nation in the Americas after the United States. The revolution succeeded as the only slave uprising in history that resulted in an independent state. Dessalines became governor-general for life, then crowned himself Emperor Jacques I in October 1804. He was assassinated on October 17, 1806. His death fractured Haiti into northern and southern states. Henri Christophe controlled the north, declaring himself King Henry I in 1811. Alexandre Pétion governed the south as president. Christophe constructed the Citadelle Laferrière between 1805 and 1820, a massive fortress atop a 900-meter mountain near Cap-Haïtien designed to defend against potential French invasion. He also built Sans-Souci Palace near Milot as his royal residence. Both structures now hold UNESCO World Heritage status.