Difference between revisions of "Port-au-Prince"

Revision as of 19:43, 26 April 2006

Port-au-Prince, (Kreyòl: Pòtoprens) (18°32′N 72°20′W) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Haiti. It is located on a bay of the Gulf of La Gonave in the department Ouest (West). It's current population (2005) is estimated at 2.5 to 3 million people.

At the end of the 15th century, at the time of Columbus arrival, the region around Port-au-Prince was under the control of a Taino ruler by the name of Bohechio, but there was no major settlement.

Port-au-Prince was founded in 1749 by French sugar planters, in what was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue. In 1770, it became the capital, replacing Cap Français, and in 1804 it became the capital of newly-independent Haiti. The city was captured by British troops on June 4, 1794.

During colonial times, before the declaration of independence in 1804, the city was named Port-au-Prince, then Port Républicain in French (after the (French Revolution) and Port Republican in English before being renamed Port-au-Prince by Jean-Jacques Dessalines in 1804.

The name of the town is said to have derived from a vessel Le Prince that had anchored in the Bay of Port-au-Prince.

See also

• Toussaint Louverture letter to Jean-Jacques Dessalines - Letter from 1802, in which Toussaint Louverture asks Jean-Jacques Dessalines to burn down the city to repel the French forces seeking to reestablish slavery in Saint-Domingue.

Reference

• Port-au-Prince. (2005, December 1). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:22, December 13, 2005 [1].

External links

• Port-au-Prince weather - Includes weather forecast.
• The Tramways of Haiti - Images and text about early railways in Port-au-Prince.