View source for Aux Cayes

[[image:military_review_les_cayes.jpg|right|thumb|330px|Les Cayes in the 1910's.]]'''Aux Cayes''' (also ''Les Cayes'', ''La Ville Des Cayes''  or ''La Cayes''; [[Kreyòl]]: ''Okay''; '''Note''': ''Les Cayes'' is the current name) (8°12'N 73°45'W) has Haiti's main southern port and is located in the department Sud (''South''). Les Cayes is located about 196 km (122 miles) South-East of the capital [[Port-au-Prince]].  

===Les Cayes during the Haitian Revolution===
In [[1796]] rioting against European colonial settlers erupted in Aux Cayes, killing many.

Toussaint Louverture wrote in his [[Memoir of Toussaint Louverture, Written by Himself|autobiographical notes]]: "...When I returned to Cayes, after the departure of [[André Rigaud|Gen. Rigaud]], the treasury was empty..." ([[Beard]] p. 323)

At a meeting in July of [[1803]] at Camp Gérard, near the town of Les Cayes, the Generals of the southern army under Geffrard, formed an alliance with [[Jean-Jacques Dessalines]].

====Birthplace of famous Haitians====
[[image:andre_rigaud.jpg| right|thumb|100px|André Rigaud.]]John James Audubon1 (1785 – 1851) a Franco-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter was born in Les Cayes. Audubon became famous for his life like drawings of birds.

Les Cayes is also the birthplace of [[André Rigaud]] (1761) a [[mulatto]] leader, who fought the [[War of Knives]] against [[Toussaint Louverture]].

Born in Cayes were also General Geffrard (1761) and presidents Charles Hérard the elder, Michel Domingue, Lysius Félicité Salomon Jeune (1815), Boisrond Canel (1832) and Antoine Simon (1843).

====Simón Bolívar's stay in Aux Cayes====
[[image:simon_bolivar.jpg|right|thumb|100px|Simón Bolívar.]]In 1815, the South American liberator [[Simón Bolívar]] first landed in Aux Cayes. Bolívar left [[Haiti]] on April 10, 1816 for Venezuela, but returned in mid September of that year to this Haitian coastal town after lost battles in South America. Resupplied by the Haitian President [[Pétion]] he sailed again from Haiti on December 28, 1816, this time to successfully conclude his struggle for South American liberation from colonialism. 

====Les Cayes today====
Les Cayes is an important shipping port for agricultural goods and is situated near several pristine beaches. Antoine Simon Airport is a regional airport located in Les Cayes.

==See also==
* [[Toussaint dialogue with Léger Félicité Sonthonax (1797)]] - Toussaint Louverture mentions the ''Cayes Affair'', the revolt against French settlers in [[1796]].
* [[Memoir of Toussaint Louverture, Written by Himself]]

==References==
* {{Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography}}
* ''Extrait du rapport addressé au Directoire executif par le citoyen Toussaint Louverture, general en chef des Forces de la République française a Saint-Domingue''. (1797) Chez P. Roux, imprimeur. Cap-français, n.d. [1797].
* Les Cayes. ''The Columbia Gazetteer of North America'', edited by Saul B. Cohen. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. [http://www.bartleby.com/69/2/L03502.html]. [Accessed on 1/30/2006].

==External links==
* [http://lavilledescayes.com/ La Ville Des Cayes] - Unofficial Les Cayes Portal.
* Haiti-Référence: [http://www.haiti-reference.com/geographie/villes/cayes.html Profil de la Ville des Cayes] - (French text)
* [http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/78447.html Les Cayes weather] - Current weather and forecast. 
===Maps===
* [http://perso.orange.fr/frph/lescayesplan.htm Map of Cayes (1786)] - Map by Phelipeau. (French text)

[[Category:Haitian towns]]
[[Category: Places of the Haitian Revolution]]