Haiti

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Haiti fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇪🇸 Crown of Castile1492 to 1533

   The Taino chief Caonabo destroyed La Navidad in 1493, and Taino chiefdoms fought Spanish conquest across the island. The chieftainess Anacaona was executed in 1503, and Enriquillo led the last revolt from the mountains until a peace in 1533.

2. 🇪🇸 Spanish Empire1630 to 1697

   Spain fought the French buccaneers who settled Tortuga and the empty west coast, raiding Tortuga several times. With the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 Spain accepted French rule over the western third of Hispaniola.

3. 🇬🇧 Kingdom of Great Britain1793 to 1798

   Britain invaded Saint Domingue in 1793, hoping to seize the rich colony and stop the slave revolt spreading. Yellow fever and Toussaint Louverture's armies wore the British down, and they withdrew in 1798.

4. 🇫🇷 French Republic1802 to 1803

   Napoleon sent a large army under his brother in law Charles Leclerc to restore French control. Toussaint was captured and died in a French prison, but the army was destroyed by war and disease, and was defeated at Vertières in November 1803.

5. 🇫🇷 Kingdom of France1804 to 1825

   France refused to recognise independent Haiti and hoped to recover its colony. In 1825 it sent a fleet and imposed an indemnity of 150 million francs as the price of recognition.

6. 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic1844 to 1856

   After the east declared independence in February 1844, Haitian armies invaded several times. Dominican forces won at Azua in 1844, Las Carreras in 1849 and Santomé in 1855, and Haiti gave up its attempts after 1856.

7. 🇺🇸 United StatesSince 1857Still open

   The United States claimed Navassa, a small island west of Haiti, under its Guano Islands Act in 1857. Haiti has always claimed it too, and the dispute has never been settled.

8. 🇺🇸 United States1915 to 1934

   American marines occupied Haiti for nineteen years. Caco rebels under Charlemagne Péralte and later Benoît Batraville fought the occupation until 1920, and thousands of Haitians died in the fighting.

9. 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic1937 to 1938

   In October 1937 the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered soldiers to kill Haitians living along the border. Thousands died in the Parsley Massacre, and the Dominican Republic later agreed to pay Haiti a small compensation.

Today

Haiti now

The native Taino -- who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when Christopher COLUMBUS first landed in 1492 -- were virtually wiped out by Spanish settlers within 25 years. In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola. In 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island, which later became Haiti.

Capital

Port-au-Prince

Government

semi-presidential republic

Head of government

Alix Didier Fils-Aimé

Head of state

Transitional Presidential Council

Languages

Haitian Creole, French

Area

27,750 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population11.6 million2023 · 3.3 million in 1950
• Life expectancy64.9 years2023 · 37.2 years in 1950
• GDP per person$1,5462022 · $1,790 in 1950
• Living in cities56%2025 · 12% in 1950
• Literacy68%2017 · 13% in 1950
• Political regimeClosed autocracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesRio Pact2024 · Rio Pact in 1950
• Military spending0.1% of GDP2025
• War deaths20 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.