Geography
The Republic of Haiti is located in the Greater Antilles. It shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, situated to the east. The Republic of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometers in size. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south.

Departments and Major Cities
The country is divided into nine departments: the North-West, the North, the North-East, the Artibonite, the Center, the West, The South-East, the South and the Grande Anse.

The capital, Port-au-Prince, is located in the Department of the West. Cap-Haitian, the country's second city is located in the North.

History
Until 1492, the island was populated by the Arawak and Taïnos Indians. The arrival of Christopher Columbus and the establishment of slavery and mining for gold rapidly decimated the original population. At the beginning of the 16th century blacks were imported from Africa as slaves. During this century, western part of the island was abandoned by the Spanish and French adventurers gradually establshed themselves, practicing piracy. The French colony, St Domingue, was officially established under the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.

This colony based largely on sugar production was extremely prosperous during the 17th and 18th centuries. In order to satisfy the demand for sugar production, more and more slaves were imported from Africa, creating a fragile social balance. After the French Revolution in 1789, the inherent weakness of the colonial society produced conflict between the mother-country and the colonials, between the freed-slaves and the colonials, and the slaves and the colonials. Between 1793 and 1804, war was waged between these factions until independance was declared on 1st of January 1804, marking the creation of the first black republic in the world.

Population
According the United Nations estimates (2003) the population is more than 8 million. Approximately 65 % of the population lives in rural areas. The city of Port-au-Prince accounts for more than 80% of the urban population.

Economy
The economy is based primary on agricultural. Industry is poorly developed and consists mainly of an assembly industry, agro-industry (coffee), and textile manufacture. More than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs and are engaged in informal commercial activities.

Culture
The Haitian Constitution of 1987 officially recognized the two languages, French and Creole. The prevalent religions are Voodoo, Catholicism and Protestantism. The excellence of Haitian art has been recognized since the 1940s. The country has developed various schools of art and has produced a succession of great painters, to name a few: Philomé Obin, Préfète Duffaut, Tiga, Cédor, André Pierre.

Haitian literature, mostly in French has taken off during the past few years. The foundation has supported numerous writers (Frankétienne, Gaillard, Pierre, Chassagne, St-Louis) and helped several publishing houses (Mémoire, Cidhica, Mémoire d'encrier) to publish writers' works.

Politics

A presidential system of government was established by the Constitution of 1987. The president is elected for a period of 5 years. The Prime Minister is nominated by the President, and the parliamentary majority. This consists of two houses, the Senate (chambre haute) and the House of Deputies (chambre basse).

Since 1987, only one President, René G. Préval (1996-2001) achieved the dual tasks of being elected to office and fulfilling his term of office.

Education
The public education system is unable to meet demands. 48% of the population is under the age of 18. Out of 100 primary school age children, only 10 attend public schools, 32 go to private schools and 58 don't go to school at all.

Health
The life expectancy in Haiti is 55 years of age according to the World Bank. Child mortality is 7.5%. Roughly 12% children die before they reach 5 years of age. Less than half (46%) of the population have access to drinking water and approximately 40% have no toilets at all.

Communications et Energy
About two thirds (66.3%) of the population lives without electricity. Less than 5% of households have telephones or own cars. The roads are in poor condition. There are four national roads: one to the North, another to the South-East, the third to the North-East (Plateau Central) and the fourth to the East, to the Dominican Republic. Only three of these highways are partially asphalted, the second becomes a dirt road half-way. There are other secondary roads, but with one or two exceptions they are dirt roads.