Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince seen from outerspace.

Bicentennial celebrations in Port-au-Prince (2004).

Port-au-Prince, (Kreyòl: Pòtoprens; Spanish: Puerto Príncipe) (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. Among it's larger suburbs are Carrefour, Delmas and Pétionville. Port-au-Prince is home to most of the countries assembly and manufacturing industries (electronics, garments and baseballs) and has major port facilities and the nearby Toussaint Louverture International Airport (PAP), renamed after Louverture during President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's last period in office.

Port-au-Prince is home to many cultural institutions such as the National Art Museum.

History of Port-au-Prince

The Bay of Port-au-Prince in 1798.

Port-au-Prince tramway car around 1922.

At the end of the 15th century, at the time of Christopher Columbus arrival, the region around Port-au-Prince was under the control of a Taíno 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. By October 1798 the British troops, led by Thomas Maitland, were defeated by Toussaint Louverture and his fellow revolutionaries and left the colony.

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 (The Prince) that had anchored in the Bay of Port-au-Prince.

Dessalines assassination in 1806

Jean-Jacques Dessalines was assassinated in an ambush north of Port-au-Prince at Pont Larnage, (now known as Pont-Rouge) on October 17, 1806 while he was en route to battle rebels. Henry Christophe renamed the city Port-aux-Crimes (Port of Crimes) afterwards.

A woman by the name of Défilée, gathered the mutilated body of Jean-Jacques Dessalines to bury him. He was later interred in Port-au-Prince

In 1892 a marble monument for Dessalines was erected at the Cimetière Intérieur of Port-au-Prince and in March of 1936, it was moved to Pont-Rouge. For an image of the monument see: Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

See also

• Ramón Emeterio Betances stays in Jacmel - Short excerpt of an appeal to Caribbean unity from an adress to a Port-au-Prince Masonic Lodge in 1872.
• Frederick Douglass lecture on Haiti - 1893 speech given in Chicago in which Douglass gives impressions of live in Port-au-Prince.
• 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.
• General Whyte's Proclamation to the People of Saint-Domingue (1794) - After the British capture of Port-au-Prince; specifically addresses it's inhabitants.
• U.S. Proclamation Regarding Commerce with St. Domingo (1799)
• French Cruelties in St. Domingue - 1802 article from the Courier of New Hampshire.

References

• Port-au-Prince. (2005, December 1). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:22, December 13, 2005 [1].
• Tortuga. The Columbia Gazetteer of North America, edited by Saul B. Cohen. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. [2] [accessed July 6, 2006].

External links

Embassies in Port-au-Prince

• Canadia Embassy in Haiti - (French and English text)
• Ambassade de France en Haïti - French Embassy in Haiti. (French text)
• Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Haiti - Contact info for German embassy in Port-au-Prince
• U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince - (French and English text)

Miscellaneous links

Infrastructure

• The Tramways of Haiti - Images and text about early railways in Port-au-Prince.
  • Port-au-Prince railway and tram map - (1930)
• World Aero Data: Toussaint Louverture International Airport - MTPP - Info on The Haitian airport named after Louverture.

Weather

• Port-au-Prince weather - Includes weather forecast.

Reference

• Wikipedia: Port-au-Prince