COUNTRY PROFILE: HAITI

May 2006

COUNTRY

Formal Name: Republic of Haiti (République d’Haïti).

Short Form: Haiti.

Term for Citizens: Haitian(s).

Capital: Port-au-Prince.

Major Cities: Port-au-Prince (917,112 inhabitants), Carrefour (306,074), Delmas (257,247), and Cap-Haïtien (107,026) are Haiti’s only cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Independence: January 1, 1804, from France. Haiti was the first modern state governed by people of African descent and the second nation in the Western Hemisphere to achieve independence.

Public Holidays: Haiti celebrates the following public holidays: Independence Day (January 1), Ancestors’ Day (January 2), Carnival Monday (variable date in February or March), Mardi Gras (variable date in February or March), Ash Wednesday (variable date in February or March), Good Friday (variable date in March or April, Friday before Easter), Easter (variable date in March or April), Flag Day (May 18), Ascension Day (variable date in May or June), Corpus Christi Day (variable date in May or June), Assumption Day (August 15), Dessalines Day (October 17), All Saints’ Day (November 1), All Souls’ Day (November 2), and Christmas Day (December 25).

Flag: Haiti’s flag consists of two equal horizontal bands, the top blue and

the bottom red. Centered is a white rectangle that bears Haiti’s coat of arms,

which consists of a palm tree and two cannons underscored by the motto

“L’UNION FAIT LA FORCE” (Union Makes Strength).