Central America · Interventions and the long 20th century
Haiti
1804/1934–present
Haiti has been independent since 1804, but its modern trajectory was decisively shaped by the United States occupation of 1915–1934, which built infrastructure and centralized the state while breeding nationalist resentment and empowering the military.
- Existed
- 1804/1934–present
- Shown on the map
- 1936–2024
- Peak area
- 31k km²
- Region
- Central America
Overview
Haiti has been independent since 1804, but its modern trajectory was decisively shaped by the United States occupation of 1915–1934, which built infrastructure and centralized the state while breeding nationalist resentment and empowering the military. After the occupation ended (1934), politics remained unstable until the rise of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier (president from 1957), who ruled by terror through the Tontons Macoutes paramilitary and declared himself president-for-life; he was succeeded by his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier (1971–1986).
Later history and present status
The Duvaliers' fall in 1986 opened a fraught democratic transition. The former priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide, elected in 1990, was twice removed — by a 1991 coup and, after a US-backed restoration, again in 2004. The catastrophic earthquake of January 2010 killed well over 100,000 people and was followed by a cholera epidemic introduced by UN peacekeepers. Haiti remains the poorest country in the Americas; since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 it has descended into a profound crisis of gang control and near-state-collapse, with a transitional governing council and internationally backed security missions struggling to restore order.
Common questions
- What was Haiti?
- Haiti has been independent since 1804, but its modern trajectory was decisively shaped by the United States occupation of 1915–1934, which built infrastructure and centralized the state while breeding nationalist resentment and empowering the military.
- When did Haiti exist?
- Haiti existed 1804/1934–present. On this map it is drawn 1936–2024.
- How large was Haiti?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Haiti covered about 31,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- What is the present status of Haiti?
- The Duvaliers' fall in 1986 opened a fraught democratic transition. The former priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide, elected in 1990, was twice removed — by a 1991 coup and, after a US-backed restoration, again in 2004.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity and for the key figures and events as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, EBSCO Research Starters and academic sources. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Haiti en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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