ABOUT HAITI: Haiti is located on the island of Hispaniola, ninety minutes by air southeast of Miami. Haiti is about the size of Maryland, with a population of about 9 million. The name "Haiti" comes from the language of its original Taino-Arawak inhabitants, and means "land of mountains."
In 1492, Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain. Columbus immediately initiated a systematic regime of brutality against the native Tainos, and their population plunged from an estimated 8 million in 1491 to 12,000 in 1516. Other factors included a lack of resistance to the diseases carried by the Spaniards and, ultimately, many suicides among the despairing Tainos. By 1555, the Tainos had been exterminated.

The western third of the island, depopulated and largely neglected by the Spanish, was colonized by the French in the 17th century. In the 18th century, the French colony on Hispaniola, named St. Domingue, became very prosperous through exportation of sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, and cocoa. But the prosperity was won on the backs of about half a million slaves brought from Africa to work on the plantations.

After 1789, the ideals of the French Revolution made their way to St. Domingue, and the slaves rebelled in 1791. In 1793, slavery was abolished by France and the war ended, but after Napoleon Bonaparte took power in France, the decision was made to re-impose slavery. In 1802, the slave revolt resumed and succeeded. On January 1, 1804, the new nation of Haiti declared its independence.

In 1838, France recognized Haiti's independence, but only after Haiti paid France an indemnity of 150 million francs and agreed to cut by 50% the custom fees of French ships. This figure was equivalent to the total annual budget of France (not Haiti), and was backed by threats to invade and re-establish slavery.
Why do such terrible things keep happening to Haiti? A major reason is the indemnity payment forced upon Haiti, estimated to equal over 20 billion dollars in 2010 terms. Another is environmental degradation, beginning with the Spanish and continuing to this day. Massive deforestation has removed a natural hurricane buffer and leads to erosion, crop failure, and flooding. Political instability and historical marginalization by the international community are other big factors. More on those in another column.