HAITI

The history of Hispaniola starts in 1492 when Christopher Columbus landed on the island. Since the independence of Haiti, they have been leading a political republic to their island. Before Europeans arrived, the island was inhabited by indigenous people, including the  Taino and Arawak tribes. The Taíno were the dominant Indigenous group, with a complex social structure, agricultural practices (including cassava farming), and a rich cultural heritage. They called the island Quisqueya or Ayiti, meaning "land of mountains”. Europeans first colonized Haiti in the years of 1492-1493. Spain had Hispaniola colonized for about 300 years. From there, Spain had given the western part of the island to France in 1697 which then led to Toussaint L’ouverture conquering Haiti in 1801. Afterwards,  in 1804 Haiti became independent.

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Since this astonishing accomplishment, there have been many major events. Starting in 1844, Hispoaniola was split into the two islands of Dominican Republic and Haiti, then from 1915 to 1934 Haiti was invaded by the United states as a result of political instability, soon later general strikes occurred due to the fall to protest tax increases. Lastly, lots of violence was put into place in the year of 2023 with nearly 200,000 people, including 130,000 in Port-au-Prince alone, that were internally displaced across Haiti. Approximately half of all internally displaced Haitians were children. In between all of these major occurrences, there were lots of political events and climate emergencies.

 

The population of Haiti is very much the same throughout the island with ninety-five percent of the people being of African descent. Mulattoes and people of European and Arab descent make up the majority of this population. Mulattoes are people of African and European descent, and they speak French as opposed to Haitian Creole. Until the 20th century the mulattoes were the elite class, and much of Haiti's turbulent history may be explained through the rivalry between blacks and mulattoes.

 

Although Haiti is a great place, there is a large diaspora with more than 2 million people living abroad in countries such as the Dominican Republic, United states, Cuba, Brazil, France, Canada, and the Bahamas. These descents tie back to the history of Haiti. European ancestry primarily comes from the French colonists who controlled the island and the african ancestry primarily comes from the slaves brought from Africa to Haiti. Unlike other Latin American countries, Hati does not have a vast difference in their community ethnicities but their population now makes up their country today.