During the 1950s through the 1970s, Haiti was a major tourist destination in the Caribbean. Tourism in those days represented a measurable portion of national revenue while providing work for tour guides, drivers, artists, craftsmen and ample business to the art dealers. Over the past two decades, however, Haiti?s tourism industry has seriously dwindled. Although, it may still be a major attraction in the Caribbean, but it is handled differently by the travel industry.
Now, what of the tourists themselves? Ironically, many travelers still get to visit Haiti without really knowing where they are. For example, Royal Caribbean Cruise line boats bring as many as 10,000 visitors monthly to the Labadie enclave near Cap-Haitien. Likewise, several times a week, German tourists are driven over the Haiti-Dominican Republic border for one-day excursions to Sans Souci and The Citadelle Laferriere. Again, they are not exactly told where they are.
Clearly, the tourist industry needs revamping. Our purpose then in this section is to showcase the various beautiful regions of the North. Let us then go now to the North of Haiti and see for ourselves.
Cap-Haitien and its surroundings have a lot to offer to the foreign or local tourist. From art galleries to splendid beaches, (Labadie, Cormier, Coco Beach, Chou-Chou Bay, Cocoyer Beach), historical monuments to magnificent fortresses, the choices are plentiful.
On a ridge 20 minutes west of the northern metropolis, the area generally called Labadie (Pronounced Lah-Bah-Deeh) reveals the bluest of a calm Atlantic Ocean adjoining a curvaceous belt of lush mountains. Labadie has the disctinctive charm of delivering in just one place some of the best beaches of the Caribbean, a bit of History and a bright, colorful palette of arts, crafts and people.
Please read our special articles on Historique Cap Haitien & Surroundings; The Beautiful Beaches of Labadie & Cormier; the Mysterious Plaine du Nord & Fort Liberté, etc.
History
Who were the first haitians? On December 5 or 6, 1492, Christopher Columbus anchored his boat on the north coast of Haiti, near Cap-Haitien. The Island of Haiti witnessed a flourishing civilization before 1492. Columbus called the Tainos who inhabited the island Indians because he thought he had reached India. The Tainos were said to be gentle and peaceful, happy and friendly. It is believed that the Tainos traveled throughout the other islands in groups with children, women and domestic animals. It was a well-organized society divided into "caciquats" or kingdom each governed by a chief or cacique.
The Tainos hated hard labor and ardous climbs. For those reasons, they, for the most part stayed away from the mountainous regions of the island. The Tainos lived throughout most of the Caribbean.
{josquote}An Indian chief who was being executed was about to be baptized. The priest promised him that if he did get baptized, he would go to paradise. He asked the priest: "Are there any Spaniards in your heaven?". The priest responded that only good ones go to heaven. At those words, the chief refused the baptism retorting that "even the best one of them is worth nothing; I do not want to go to any heaven where I stand to meet one."{/josquote}
They lived particularly in the island of Haiti and also in Puerto Rico. They called that island Haiti, Quisqueya or Bohio because of its physical features. Haiti in Taino means high ground, mountainous land. Columbus renamed the island Hispaniola. Around fifty years after his coming on the island virtually all Taino population was so much decimated that their trait is not encountered in Haiti today. According to various estimates, when the Spaniards conquered the island of Haiti, as many as 100,000 to 1,000,000 Tainos were living on that land. That number would be reduced to zero due to genocide commited by the Spaniards. Nowadays, there is practically no clear trace of Taino descent in Haiti, except through archeological evidence, biological and cultural remains, and some artwork, some answers have been provided to the origins of the Tainos, their culture and religion. Most agree that the Tainos who lived in Haiti had a more advanced civilization culturally among the other inhabitants of the Caribbean islands.
According to historians, in the early 16th century Spain was, of course, dominant in the so-called "New World." But, France, Great Britain and Holland joined to hire tough sailors called privateers to disrupt the Spanish shipping, steal the gold and silver and other precious items and give the largest share back to the supporting governments.
One of the central places for these privateers to hang out was the island of La Tortue, just off Haiti's north coast. If you look at a map you will see that this is the route of one path back to Europe from Central and South America. The other path, to the south of Puerto Rico, was too shallow and dangerous. Thus La Tortue, a rocky island with caves, was an excellent vantage point for the early privateers.
Later, by the 17th century when the privateers gave way to non-governmental groups of free lance criminals, the pirates were born on the island of La Tortue. it was their de facto rule of the western part of the island that strongly encouraged the French to sue for the cession of that portion of Hispaniola in 1697. By this point La Tortue was mainly the province of French pirates.
The Spanish occupied the eastern portion of the island where they raised some cattle, but the western portion (today's Haiti) was virtually abandoned. However, since this land was wildly fertile and formerly a place where animal farming went on, there were lots of wild cattle and pigs. When the pirates weren't pirating, some of them began to cross the 16 km. over to Haiti to hunt meat. Since they cooked it over open fires they were called boukanier (the open fire men).
Little by little these people settled in this area and built a French settlement in Spanish property. Disputes arose about this French infringement of Spanish land and these disputes were finally settled in 1697 when the Treaty of Rystwik, which settled a European war, granted the western portion of the island to France, which named it the colony of Saint Domingue. This French colony is basically the same boundaries as modern day Haiti.
As the native Taino Indians were completely wiped out by this time, by the early part of the 16th century the Spanish and then the French were importing African slaves to work the land.
The African slaves revolted many times, but the revolt of 1791 "stuck" and grew into a revolution that finally succeeded in late 1803. Jan. 1, 1804 the country of Haiti began, the only and first Republic ever formed by slaves after a victorious revolution.
The Foreign Press has done a lot of damage to the reputation of Haiti by instilling all kinds of fears into the foreign visitor. The tourists visiting the Northern region most of the time do not know where they are, when told it was in Haiti, they said they did not think of Haiti as a tourist destination. The Northern departments offer a glamorous slice cut through various layers of a Haitian Pot-Pourri pie. Beautiful beaches, strong mountains, rich history, effervescent art and the spirit of a simple yet proud people.
Linear Mode
Similar Threads 
