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Port-au-Prince, HaitiPort-au-Prince, (Pòtoprens in Kreyòl), population 1.9 million (2003 census), is the capital and largest city of Haiti. Growth, especially in crowded slums in nearby plains and hillsides, has raised the population of the Port-au-Prince area to between 2.5 and 3 million people. It is located on a bay of the Gulf of La Gonave, at 18°32′ N 72°20′ W. The city's layout is somewhat similar to that of an amphitheatre: commercial districts are near the water, while residential neighbourhoods are located on the hills above.
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History
The region before the founding of Port-au-Prince
Before the arrival of Columbus, the region that would eventually become Port-au-Prince was not the site of any permanent human settlement. At the end of the 15th century, the region was under the control of an Amerindian ruler by the name of Bohechio, and he, like his predecessors, feared settling too close to the coast -- such settlements would have proven to be tempting targets for the Caribes, who lived in neighbouring islands. Instead, the region served as a hunting ground.
With the arrival of the Spaniards, the Amerindians were forced to become a protectorate, and Bohechio, childless at death, was succeeded by his sister, Anacaona. The new leader tried to maintain cordial relations with the Spaniards, but this proved to be difficult, as the latter came to insist upon larger and larger tributes. Eventually, the Spanish colonial administration decided to rule directly, and in 1503, Nicolas Ovando, then governor, set about to put an end to the régime headed by Anacaona. He invited her and other tribal leaders to a feast, and when the Amerindians had drunk a good deal of wine -- the Spaniards did not drink -- he ordered most of the guests killed. Anacaona, however, was spared, though only to hang her publicly some time later. Through violence and disease, the Spanish settlers decimated the native population; Hispaniola lost a million inhabitants from 1492 - 1507.
Direct Spanish rule over the area once established, Ovando founded a settlement not long from the coast (west of L'Etang Saumâtre), the ironically-named Santoa Maria de la Paz Verdadera, which would be abandoned several years later. Not long thereafter, Ovando founded Santa Maria de el Puerto. The latter was first burned by French explorers in 1535, then again, in 1592 by the English. These assaults proved to be too much for the Spanish colonial administration, and in 1606, it decided to abandon the region.
For more than 50 years, the area that is today Port-au-Prince saw its population drop off drastically. Finally, some buccaneers began to use it as a base, and Dutch merchants began to frequent it in search of leather, as game was abundant there. Around 1650, French pirates flibustiers, running out of room on the Île de la Tortue began to arrive on the coast, and established a colony at Trou-Borded. As the colony grew, they set up a hospital not far from the coast, on the heights Turgeau. This lead to the region being known as Hôpital.
Although there had been no real Spanish presence in Hôpital for well over 50 years, Spain retained its formal claim to the territory, and the growing presence of the French flibustiers on ostensibly Spanish lands provoked the Spanish crown to dispatch Castillian soldiers to Hôpital to retake it. The mission proved to be a disaster for the Spanish, as they were outnumbered and outgunned, and in 1697, the Spanish government signed the treaty of Ryswick, renouncing any claims to Hôpital. Around this time, the French also established bases on Ester (part of Petite-Rivière) and Gonaïves.
Ester was a rich village, inhabited by merchants, equipped with straight streets; it was here that the governor lived. On the other hand, the surrounding region, Petite-Rivière, was quite poor. Following a great fire in 1711, Ester was abandoned.Yet the French presence in the region continued to grow, and not long thereafter, a new city in the south was founded -- Léogane.
While the first French presence in Hôpital, the region that was later to contain Port-au-Prince was that of the flibustiers, as the region became a real French colony, the colonial administration began to worry about the continual presence of these pirates -- the flibustiers. While useful in repelling Englishmen intend on encroaching on French territory, they were relatively independent, unresponsive to the orders from the colonial administration and, a potential threat to the colonial government. Therefore, in the winter of 1707, Choiseul-Beaupré, the governor of the region sought to get rid of what he saw as a threat. He insisted upon control of the hospital, and the flibustiers refused, considering this humiliating. They proceeded to close the hospital, rather than cede control of it to the governor, and many of them became habitans, farmers -- the first stable European inhabitants in the region.
Though the elimination of the flibustiers as a group from Hôpital reinforced the authority of the colonial administration, it made the region a tastier target for the English. In order to protect the area, a captain named de Saint-André sailed into the bay in a ship named Le Prince, just below the hospital. De Saint-André named the area Port-du-Prince, though the port and the surrounding region continued to be known as Hôpital. (The ilots in the bay were already known as îlots du Prince)
The English did not trouble the area, and various nobles sought land grants from the French crown in Hôpital; the first noble to control Hôpital was Sieur Joseph Randot. Upon his death in 1737, Sieur Pierre Morel gained control over part of the region, with Gatien Bretton des Chapelles acquiring another portion thereof.
By this time, the colonial administration was convinced that a capital needed to be chosen, in order better to control the French portion of Santo-Domingo. For a time, Petit-Goâve and Léogane vied for this honor, but they were both eventually ruled out. First of all, they were not centrally located. Petit-Goâve's climate was too malarial and Léogane's topography made it difficult to mount a defence of it. A new city had to be built -- Port-au-Prince.
Colonial history
In 1770, it replaced Cap-Haïtien as capital of the colony of Saint-Domingue, and in 1804 it became the capital of newly-independent Haiti. Before Haitian independence it was captured by British troops on June 4, 1794. During the French and Haitian Revolutions, it was known as Port-Républicain, before being renamed Port-au-Prince by Jacques I, emperor of Haiti. When Haiti was divided between a kingdom in the north and a republic in the south, Port-au-Prince was the capital of the republic, under the leadership of Alexandre Pétion. Henri Christophe renamed the city Port-aux-Crimes after the assassination of Jean-Jacques Dessalines at Pont Larnage, (now known as Pont-Rouge, and located north of the city.
Recent history
U.S. troops deployed in Port-au-Prince, 2004
This section is a Economy
The city currently exports coffee and sugar, and has, in the past, exported other goods, such as shoes and baseballs. Port-au-Prince has food-processing plants and soap, textile, and cement factories. The city also relies on the tourism industry and construction companies to move its economy.
Though unemployment is very high in Port-au-Prince, it would be more accurate to say that people are underemployed. Walking down the streets of Port-au-Prince a person can not help but recognize the extremely high levels of activity, especially among people selling goods and services right off the streets. In Simon Fass's research book, Political Economy in Haiti: The Drama of Survival, he argues that in fact virtually no one is unemployed in Port-au-Prince's slums, because they would be unable to survive if they were.
Transportation
The major transportation systems in Haiti are located near or run through the capital. Haiti has two main highways which run from one end of the country to the other. The northern highway, National Highway One, originates in Port-au-Prince, passes through the coastal towns of Montrouis and Gonaïves, and ends in Cap-Haïtien. The southern highway, National Highway Two, connects Port-au-Prince to Les Cayes via Miragoâne and Jacmel. Maintenance for these roads lapsed after the 1991 upheaval, prompting the World Bank to loan USD 50 million for road repairs. The project was canceled, however, in January 1999 after auditors revealed corruption.
The port at Port-au-Prince has more registered shipping than any of the over dozen ports in the country. The port's facilities include cranes, large berths, and warehouses, but these facilities are in poor shape. The port is underused, possibly due to the substantially high port fees compared to ports in the Dominican Republic.
Guy Malary International Airport, which opened in 1965 (as Francois Duvalier International Airport), is 10 km north of the city and exclusively handles the country's international flights. Air Haiti and airlines from Europe, the Caribbean, and Americas operate at the airport.
Demographics
Education
Influential international schools in Port-au-Prince include Union School 1, founded in 1919, and Quisqueya Christian School 2, founded in 1974. Both schools offer an American-style pre-college education.
The Haitian Group of Research and Pedagogical Activities (GHRAP) has set up several community centers for basic education. UNESCO’s office at Port-au-Prince has taken a number of initiates in upgrading the educational facilities in Port-au-Prince.
- See also
- University of Haiti
Culture
The culture of the city lies in the center around the National Palace. The national palace was one of the early structures of the city but was destroyed and then rebuilt in 1918.
Tourism
Port-au-Prince has managed to maintain a tourism industry despite political instability. The Petion-Ville area of Port-au-Prince is highly wealthy and is generally the most common place for tourists to visit and stay. Outside of the city are the Plaine du Cul de Sac plains that run to the Dominican public. A well known Cathedral visited for its architecture by the tourists is the Cathedrale de Port-au-Prince. The Musee d'Art Haitien du Dolege St Pierre contains some of the countries most art and the Musee Naitonal is a historical musem featuring King Henri Christophe's suicide pistol and a rusty anchor that is claimed to have been salavaged from the Santa Maria ship. Some notable cultural sites include the Notre-Dame Cathedral, a colonial cathedral, the National Archives, National Library, and National Museum.
References
- Malik, Boulos A. (2001). Haiti: The Economy. In Helen Chapin Metz (Ed.), Dominican Republic and Haiti country studies, pp. 363-410. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
- Port-au-Prince au cours des ans : la ville coloniale 1743-1789 2ème édition. Georges Corvington. Imprimerie Henri Deschamps. Port-au-Prince, Haïti. 1975.
- Mathurin, Augustin. Bi-centenaire de la fondation de Port-au-Prince: 1749-1949. Exposition Internationalew/. Port-au-Prince : Imprimerie des Antilles, 1976; p. 17)