November 18 – Vertières Day in Haiti

Posted on November 18, 2017




 
The last battle of the Haitian Revolution was fought on this date in 1803.

When the Haitian troops won, France withdrew its 7,000 soldiers and gave up the idea of ruling over a North American empire. 

Almost all of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution and of the new, independent Haiti were former slaves. It was the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the second republic in the Americas. I read that it was the first ever successful slave army revolution, and Haiti is the only nation in the Western Hemisphere to defeat three great European powers (Spain, France, and the U.K.).

It's a bummer to report that today Haiti is a country troubled by poverty, corruption, and political unrest (there have been 32 coups since independence!). Nature has smacked into Haiti with some huge problems in the form of a massive earthquake in 2010 and of course hurricanes.

Here are some happier aspects of life in Haiti:

The UNESCO World Heritage Site La Citadelle la Ferriere is one of he largest fortresses in the Americas:



Another ruin is the Sans-Souci Palace:


Jacmel is the arts and crafts center of the nation:





People go to Saut-d'Eau to bathe in the waters of the falls:





 
I think it's easy to see why this bit of the Petite Riviere (the Small River) is called Bassin Bleu (Blue Basin):




People love to hike in the Furcy Forest - even though some of the hills are quite steep, and some of the mountains are very high!



The beaches! Like Labadee and Gelee and and and... And rocky coastlines, too!







The Musee du Pantheon National Haitien is a beautiful building:






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