Port-au-Prince

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Port-au-Prince,, (Pòtoprens in Kreyòl), is the capital and largest city 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.

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