Destructive Earthquakes in the World, the Latest News

Christopher Columbus went to Hispaniola in 1492 with his ship the Santa Maria. The ship's crew stayed and built a fort while Columbus sailed on and discovered gold in the Dominican Republic. In 1697, France took control of the island and they brought in slaves. In 1791, during the French Revolution, the slaves rebelled against their French masters. Toussaint L'Ouverture took control and restored order to the country. But in 1799 Napoleon came to power in France and he sent an army to capture Toussaint. Many of the French soldiers caught yellow fever and the rebels defeated the weak army in 1803. In 1804, General Jean Jacques Dessalines, the leader of the rebels, proclaimed the colony an independent country named Haiti.

Two chains of rugged mountains run across the Northern and Southern parts of Haiti and form two peninsulas at the West end of the island. The Northern peninsula goes out into the Atlantic Ocean and the Southern peninsula extends into the Caribbean Sea. A gulf and an island lie between the two peninsulas. Haiti has a tropical climate with mild temperatures. They range from 70* to 90* F. (21* to 35* C) along the coasts and from 50* to 75* F (10* to 24* C) in the mountains. Sometimes destructive hurricanes strike Haiti between June and October. A few of them have caused major damage.