Haiti is divided up into ten departments.
Artibonite
Artibonite (Haitian Creole: Latibonit) is one of the ten departments (French: départements) of Haiti. With an area of 4,984 km² it is Haiti’s largest department. Artibonite has a population of 1,168,800 (2002). The region is the country’s main rice-growing area. The main cities are Gonaïves (the capital) and Saint-Marc. An insurgency tried unsuccessfully to declare Artibonite’s independence in February 2004.
The department has been in a state of an economic decrease since the insurgencies and coups have reduced the nation’s stability. Since the election of President René Garcia Préval, the production of rice and other crops has been on an increase.
Deschapelles, in the Artibonite valley, is the location of the Hospital Albert Schweitzer Haiti.
Centre
Centre (Haitian Creole: Sant) is one of the ten departments (French: départements) of Haiti, located in the center of the country, along the border with the Dominican Republic. It has an area of 3,675 km² and a population of 564,200 (2002). Its capital is Hinche. It borders the Dominican Republic to the east. It is the only landlocked department of Haiti. It also contains the second largest lake in Haiti Lake Peligre, which was created as a result of the construction of the Peligre Hydroelectric Dam on the Artibonite River during the 1950s. It is the largest hydroelectric dam in the Caribbean.
Grand’Anse
Grand’Anse (Haitian Creole: Grandans) is one of the ten administrative departments (French: départements) of Haiti. Its capital is Jérémie. The Grand’Anse department used to be part of Sud Department until 1962, when the new Grand’Anse department was created. The department was further split in 2003, with the creation of a new department of Nippes from Miragoâne and Anse-à-Veau arrondissements.
Prior to the 2003 split it had a population of around 600,000 (2002), but subsequently the population at the 2003 Census was 337,516. The area of the department (following the split) is 3,310 square kilometres (1,280 sq mi). In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a food aide convoy transporting aide delivered to Jérémie Airport through Jérémie, encountered a hijacking attempt by 20 men, on Saturday 30 January 2010.
The Departement of la Grand’Anse includes 3 arrondissements and 12 communes. The Arrondissement of Anse d’Ainault contains 3 communes: The commune of Anse-d’Ainault; The commune of Dame-Marie; The commune of Les Irois; The Arrondissement of Corail contains 4 communes: The commune of Corail; The commune of Beaumont; The commune of Pestel; The commune of Roseaux; The Arrondissement of Jérémie contains 5 communes: The commune of of Jérémie; The commune of Abricots; The commune of Bonbon; The commune of Chambellan.
Nippes
Nippes (Haitian Creole: Nip) is the newest department (French: département) of Haiti, having been split from Grand’Anse Department in 2003. The capital of the department is Miragoâne.
Nord
Nord (English: North, Haitian Creole: Nò) is one of the ten departments (French: départements) of Haiti. It has an area of 2,106 km² and a population of 872,200 (2002). Its capital is Cap-Haïtien.In 1789 the Nord Department on the northern shore was the most fertile area with the largest sugar plantations. It was an area of vast economic importance. Here most of the slaves lived in relative isolation, separated from the rest of the colony by a high mountain range known as the Massif. This area was a stronghold of the wealthy planters who wanted greater autonomy for the colony, especially economically, so they could do as they pleased.
Although the slaves were not expected to participate in a rebellion, suddenly on August 22, 1791, a great slave uprising plunged the country into civil war. Thousands of slaves in the fertile Nord Department region rose up to take vengeance on their masters and to fight for their liberty. Within the next ten days slaves had taken control of the entire northern province in an unprecedented slave revolt that left the whites controlling only a few isolated fortified camps.
Within the next two months as the violence escalated, the rebelling slaves killed 2,000 whites and burned or destroyed 280 sugar plantations.Within a year the island was in revolutionary chaos. Slaves burnt the plantations where they had been forced to work, and killed masters, overseers and other whites. This was the beginning of the Haitian Revolution.
In 1804, Haiti declared itself a free republic but civil war broke out in the north under the leadership of Henri Christophe. Christophe declared the northern dominion a kingdom in 1811 and crowned himself King Henry I of Haiti. In 1820, King Henry committed suicide after suffering a stroke that resulted in his lose control of the army and therefore his power.
The kingdom was claimed by Jean Pierre Boyer, then the appointed president of Haiti, on October 26, 1820 after he captured Cap Haïtien by military force. Haiti became a single nation again.
Unique Haitian Faces at a Public Market
Nord-Est
Nord-Est (English: North-East, Haitian Creole: Nòdès) is one of the ten departments (French: départements) of Haiti. It has an area of 1,805 km² and a population of 283,800 (2002). Its capital is Fort-Liberté. It used to be part of Nord Department. It borders the Dominican Republic to the east.
Nord-Ouest
Nord-Ouest (English: North-West, Haitian Creole: Nòdwès) is one of the ten departments (French: départements) of Haiti as well as the northernmost one. It has an area of 2,176 km² and a population of 445,080 (2003 Census). Its capital is Port-de-Paix.
With the exception of Tortuga Island and the coastal area near Port-de-Paix, the northwest is mostly arid and barren. Port-de-Paix, which was once a large exporter of coffee and bananas, now imports goods and produce from Miami. Once called Valparaiso by Columbus, there are still some lovely beaches and scenery.
Tortuga island, once the biggest pirate bases in the Caribbean is a popular tourist site and is represented frequently in films and movies based on piracy. Named for the smooth shape that reminded travelers of a turtle’s shell, Tortuga’s best beach is Pointe Saline at the western tip of the small island. This area is very dry and offers little shade but has a beautiful shoreline. At Les Palmiste on the eastern coast visit a pre-Columbian rock carving presumed to be of native Taino origin of a goddess at La Grotte au Bassin exists.
The town of Môle Saint-Nicolas is located in the Nord-Ouest. Ever since Columbus landed here in 1492 and named the island Hispaniola, Môle St-Nicolas has been of interest to the colonials, including the British, Spanish, French, and the Americans due to its strategic location on the Windward Passage, just miles from Cuba. There are several ruined forts along the coast. On clear nights the Guantánamo Province of Cuba can be seen.
Ouest
Ouest (English: West, Haitian Creole: Lwès) is one of the ten departments (French: départements) of Haiti. It is the jurisdictional seat of the national capital, the city of Port-au-Prince. It has an area of 4,827 square kilometres (1,864 sq mi) and a population of 3,093,698 (2003 Census). It borders the Dominican Republic to the east.
It is the second largest department in Haiti after the Artibonite Department. Gonâve Island is also part of the Ouest Department. The department’s stretch of coastline lies entirely in the Gulf of Gonâve.
On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck in the department, the largest in Haiti in two centuries. In the Port-au-Prince Arrondissement, many areas suffered damage. In the Léogâne Arrondissement, the city of Léogane suffered 80-90% destruction. Other places in Léogâne were also affected.
Sud-Est
Sud-Est (English: South-East, Haitian Creole: Sidès) is one of the ten departments (French: départements) of Haiti. It has an area of 2,023 km² and a population of 518,200 (2002). Its capital is Jacmel. It used to be part of Sud Department.
Jacmel in Jacmel Arrondissement, a city with many French colonial heritage buildings, was devastated by a 7.0 magnitude tremblor on 12 January 2010, collapsing much of that heritage architecture.
Sud
Sud (English: South, Haitian Creole: Sid) is one of the ten departments (French: départements) of Haiti. It has an area of 2,794 square kilometres (1,079 sq mi) and a population of 745,000 (2002). Its capital is Les Cayes.
A large part of the population of Haitians in this department is of mixed race, mulattoes along with other mixtures such as Arabs and East Indians. These southern parts of Haiti are where many resident Europeans descended to during tense political turmoil and, in more recent years, have returned and settled alongside black Haitians (mostly white European men and black Haitian women). Nowadays, this area of the country has become one of the most racially diverse (excluding Port-au-Prince).
