The Caribbean island formerly known as Hispanola today is two countries, the Dominican Republic to the east and Haiti to the west. The island of Hispanola was originally colonized by the Spaniards for the sole purpose to further explore the new world.

In 1697 the Spanish transferred control of the western part of Hispanola to the French. Under the French the area then known as Saint Domingue became one of the richest colonies in the French empire.

Slaves were imported to work on the large coffee and sugarcane plantations. There was a slave revolt in 1791 and an army was sent to the French colony by Napoleon Bonaparte to quell the rebellion. However, the revolutionaries were such a strong force to contend with the French granted the colony it’s independence in 1804. The new nation was named Haiti.

The nation of Haiti is considered to be the world’s oldest black republic as well as the second only to the United States as the oldest republic in the western hemisphere. From 1843 to 1915 Haiti had no less that twenty-two changes in governments. The US did not recognize Haiti until 1862. Because of the constant upheavals during this period the United States intervened in 1915 by sending in troops under the auspices of bringing about political and economic order. The US occupied Haiti until troops were withdrawn in 1934. Haiti once again regained sovereignty.

Haiti is considered to be a presidential republic with it’s constitution that was ratified in March 1987 based upon the principles found in both the US and French constitutions. Sadly, the constitution of Haiti was suspended from June 1988 to March 1989. Repression and gross human rights violations occurred under the provisional governments that ruled Haiti throughout the early 1990’s. The United Nations security council intervened in 1994 with resolution 940 authorizing all member states to “use all necessary means to facilitate the departure of Haiti’s military leadership” in order to restore the constitutionally respected government. The constitution was reinstated in October 1994 occurred. Jean Bertrand Aristide, a former Catholic priest popular among the poor of Haiti was elected President 1994. He ruled from 1994-1996 and then again from 2001 through 2004.

On February 29, 2004 he was removed from power. Many say that he was forced our by opposition forces organized and supported by the United States and France. Conflicting reports suggest that Aristide was forced to resign by the Bush administration and put on an airplane by armed US Marines where he was flown to exile in the Central African Republic against his will. Later Aristide went to the nation of South Africa where he has been quoted as saying he was kidnapped by US forces and is still the legitimate president of Haiti.