Haiti, once called the "Pearl of the Antilles", is now simply known as "The Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere". This has become its identifier, its tag line.  Though it is true, it is however painful to hear everyone repeating it without  taking the time to find out why it is so. It was not always like this. As the former Prime Minister of Jamaica, P. J. Patterson said: "Haiti did not jump; it was pushed over the precipice."  Haiti was a country rich in natural resources, including gold.  Haiti is now importing more of what it needs from overseas, and exporting less.
Its people has become its most valuabe resource. 

Haiti is a country of majestic mountains,
beautiful valleys, huge caves, and large
expanses of the bluest water in the Caribbeans.
It is a country with natural beauty, a vibrant
culture, gifted and creative artists, and
talented artisans.
 
According to the latest census, the population
of Haiti is about 9 millions people the majority
of which, 60%, is under 35 years old. The women
comprise 51% of the population, and the men,
49%. French and Creole are Haiti's  official languages.

Haiti is a Christian country with the Roman Catholic Church being the majority denomination, and  Protestant Churches of various denominations being in minority. In recent years, the numbers have changed dramatically with the percentage of Catholics decreasing, and that of Protestants increasing. The vodou religion is also widely practiced, and there is a measure of overlap between professing Catholics and those practicing vodou.

The country is divided into 10 departments, kind of like states without individual governments: North, South, Ouest, N-East, N-Ouest, S-East, Center, Artibonite, Grande-Anse, and Nippes. The departments are divided into Arrondissements (cities) which are divided into Communes (towns) which are divided into Sections Communales (communities). Port-au-Prince is the Capital city. Other major cities include: Cap-Haitien, Gonaives, Cayes, Port-de-Paix, Hinche, Jacmel, Miragoane, Jeremie. 

At the time of the earthquake, the population of the metro Port-au-Prince was 1,728,000 people, a density of 73,434 people per square mile. No longer able to support themselves by working the land, the farmers, men and women, flocked to the capital and its suburbs in search of a job in the sweatshops even though the pay was often no more than a meager $1/day and the labor slavelike, in some cases up to 70 hours a week without a day off. This in part explains the reason for so many casualties during the earthquake.

Haiti's very existence is a 208 years of struggle. Look at the next two pictures: the Runaway Slave (negre marron) and the National Palace (palais national). They are from different times but in their own way they symbolize the very essence of this struggle. 

The Runaway Slave symbolizes  the yearning of the slaves, brought from Africa to replace the vanishing Indian population, to be free. "Liberty or Death" was their motto. Just as the Jews in biblical time used the shofar to round up the people, the slaves used the conch shell to announce the call to arms. "Decapitate, Burn the Houses" (coupe tete, boule kay) was their war cry.

They organized themselves under the leadership  of such heroes as Boisrond Tonnerre, Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Alexandre Petion, and Henry Christophe, and defeated the mighty army of Napoleon Bonaparte to earn their independence and make history by giving birth to the first black independent nation in the world. This offended the French and the other slaves owing powers of the time who resolved and conspired to isolate Haiti and prevent the spread of their "bad example" throughout the Caribbean,
Latin America, and the United States. Haiti was required to pay to the French which they defeated on the battlefield, reparation of 150 Million Gold Francs in order to be admitted in the company of free nations.  It took the United States  58 years to recognize Haiti as a free and independent nation. In a sense, Haiti, 208 years later, is still paying the cost of its audacity of freedom. 

The National Palace symbolizes the seat of power and national pride. However, it is also a symbol of Haiti's
tumultous politico-economic history from  the first  president, Jean-Jacques Dessalines violently assassinated, to the last caretaker president Rene Preval.

The current palace damaged beyond repair by the
January 12/2010's earthquake  was one of the many national palaces destroyed by fire or explosion as the residing presidents were killed, starting on 12/19/1869
when the former imperial palace was destroyed during a
rebel revolt that brought down the government of
President Sylvain Salnave, until 1915 when the sitting president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam was assassinated and
the latest National Palace designed by the Haitian
Architect Georges Baussan in 1912, was set ablaze
during construction.
After Guillaume Sam's death, Haiti was occupied by the United States (one of the many occupations of
Haiti by the United States).

The American occupying forces took possession of
the palace, and American naval engineers oversaw
its completion, the current building was finished in
1920.