Haiti is the western one-third of the second largest Caribbean island, Hispaniola. Christopher Columbus arrived there in 1492 and the island was the site of the first Spanish colony in the Americas. In the decades that followed, the indigenous population, called the Taino, was virtually wiped out by genocide and disease.
Haiti became a French colony in 1697. Nearly 100 years later, the black slave population started a revolution, leading to a war with France. Haitian forces defeated the French soldiers sent by Napoleon in 1803, the same year France sold the Louisiana territory to the U.S. and all but gave up its colonial ambitions in the New World.
In 1804 Haiti became the first independent black-led republic in the modern world, and only the second independent state in the Americas. As it developed into a nation, it suffered civil wars, political assassinations, territorial divisions and tyranny.
The country was Jacques Dessalines, the leader of the Haitian army that defeated the French, declared himself emperor but was assassinated only two years into his reign. The country was divided by rival regimes in the north and south in the years that followed until the suicide of Haiti's self-proclaimed King Henri Christophe reunited the country in 1820.
For the next 100 years Haiti experienced much friction between whites, blacks and mulatto populations, and saw 23 leaders come and go. Political turbulence and oppression continued throughout much of the 20th century and have been largely responsible for leaving Haiti the poorest country in the western hemisphere. In the world, Haiti is ranked number 149 of 182 countries on the 2009 UN Human Development Index (Canada is #4; the U.S. is #13). Peace and prosperity have been elusive.
In June 2004, the United Nations established a multi-national peacekeeping mission to help stabilize and bring some measure of security to Haiti. In February 2006, Haiti held its first presidential elections in six years. Nine days after the votes were cast, René Préval, president from 1996 to 2001, was declared the winner. Although the ensuing period of democracy has achieved increased stability, the country is still very fragile.