Republic of Haiti – Land of High Mountains

Country name: Haiti

Official Country name: Republic of Haiti

Continent: North America

Independence: 1st January 1804 by France

Area: 27,750 square kilometers

Capital: Port-au-Prince

Share border with: The Dominican Republic

Other major cities: Carrefour, Delmas and Cap-Haïtien

Population: 9,719,932 (Estimated in 2011)

Currency: Gourde

Official Language: French and Haitian Creole

Other major language: Haitian Creole Lexicon and Haitian Vodoun Cultural Language

Religions: Roman Catholics 80%, Protestants 16% and other religions 3%. 1% of the population has no religion.

5 Amazing and interesting facts about Haiti:

• Haiti is an island nation in Caribbean. It is located at one of the major Caribbean islands Hispaniola. It is not the only nation on the island of Hispaniola but The Dominican Republic is also located on it. 35% of the island is covered by Haiti while The Dominican Republic is spread over the rest 65%.

• The word “Haiti” was derived from a Taino word “Ayiti” , which means land of high mountains and interestingly 3/4th of the country is mountainous.

• The currency of Haiti is names after a popular fruit gourd. Gourds, was in fact used as Haitian currency in early 1800′s and gourds were declared property of the state in 1807 by Henry Christophe, the governor of Northern Haite. Nowadays, the currency of Haiti is called Gourde.

• Although, the national sport of Haiti is soccer but cock fighting is also popular throughout the country. Just like Bullfighting in Spain, Cock fighting is part of their traditional life.

• Haiti is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. The country was struck by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in January 2010 which claimed over 230,000 lives and about a million left homeless. It is not considered as a 3rd-world country but a 5th-world country.