Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Port-au-Prince is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. It was first incorporated under French colonial rule in 1749. The metropolitan area’s population is around 3.7 million, nearly half of the country’s national population. The area was catastrophically affected by a devastating earthquake in 2010.
About Port-au-Prince, Haiti in brief
Port-au-Prince is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. It was first incorporated under French colonial rule in 1749. The city’s layout is similar to that of an amphitheatre; commercial districts are near the water, while residential neighborhoods are located on the hills above. The metropolitan area’s population is around 3.7 million, nearly half of the country’s national population. The area was catastrophically affected by a devastating earthquake in 2010, with large numbers of structures damaged or destroyed. The region was inhabited by people known as the Taíno, who arrived in approximately 2600 BC in large dugout canoes. By the time Columbus arrived in 1492 AD, the region was under the control of Bohechio, Taí no cacique Xaragua. 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 on neighboring islands. 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. Through violence and murders, the Spanish decimated the native population far from the coast. Not long thereafter, Santa Maria de la Santa Maria was founded by French explorers, then burned by the English in 1535. Around 1650, the area that is today that is Port-auPrince saw its population drop off when some buccaneers began to use it as a base, and Dutch merchants began to frequent it in search of leather, as there was abundant flustustust as well as abundant game, such as flibustust.
The French decided to abandon the region in 1606, and it became a French colony in 1650. In 1793, the city was renamed Port-Républicain after the assassination of Jacques I, Emperor of Haiti, but was later renamed back to Port-AU-Prince by Jacques I. It is unclear which prince was the honoree, but a theory is that the place is named after Le Prince, a ship captained by de Saint-André which arrived in the area in 1706. However, the islets in the bay had already been known as les îlets du Prince as early as 1680, predating the ship’s arrival. Furthermore, the port and the surrounding region continued to be known as Hôpital, named after the filibusters’ hospital. The population of the area was approximately 400,000 at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, but theTaínos were gone within 30 years of the Arrival of Christopher Columbus, and the region served as a hunting ground. In 1535, the French explorers first burned Santa Maria del Puerto del Puerto, then in 1592 by English explorers, again in 1550 by the French, and then in 1652 by the Dutch. In 1652, the first French settlers arrived.
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This page is based on the article Port-au-Prince, Haiti published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
