It is similar to creole spoken on some other Caribbean islands, such as Guadeloupe and Martinique. Kreyòl is a unique mixture of French, Taino, English, Spanish, and various African languages. Knowledge of French has become a sign of social class in Haiti those who speak French may shun those who do not. Only educated adults or secondary school students speak French, though with varying levels of fluency and accuracy. French is used in government offices and businesses. Kreyòl is the language of daily conversation it is most likely spoken in the mountains. Throughout the 1900s, the majority of the Haitians who traveled to the Dominican side of the island worked in the agricultural industry, specifically with sugarcane (Nan Batey).Īs sugarcane profits began to decline, increasing numbers of Haitians began to migrate to urban areas in the Dominican Republic the government there has passed on many occasions new immigration laws in an attempt to regulate immigration and has carried out mass deportations of Haitian immigrants, which has fueled a never-ending conflict between Haitians and Dominicans who share the same island.Īccording to the 1987 constitution, the official languages of Haiti are Haitian Creole (Kreyòl) and French. Haitians have been living and working in the Dominican Republic for decades, in fact since 1844.
A small proportion of Haiti's people (5 percent) are of mixed heritage or white known as (les Mulatres). A large number of Haitians live in Florida, New York, Boston area and Montréal, form what most people call (la Diaspora). There are Haitian communities in other parts of Canada, the United States and other countries as well. Most Haitians are descendants of African slaves who came to the island beginning in the 16th century. Up to 300,000 people were killed in January 2010, when an earthquake struck Port-au-Prince and other regions in the country, causing damage for up to 7.9 billion dollars. The majority of the population lives in poverty. The country has a high birthrate, but emigration due to the high unemployment rate (80.3 %), lack of services and poor health keep overall growth rates down. Haiti's population of 10 million is currently decreasing at about 0.79 percent according to experts. The hurricane season lasts from June to October, but sometimes it lasts a little longer than that. Spring and autumn are rainy, whereas December through February and June through August are dry. The average temperature in the mountains is 66☏ (19☌), while at Port-au-Prince it is 81☏ (27☌). Frost, snow, and ice do not form anywhere-even at the highest elevations the coldest the temperature can ever be in the low 60's. Haiti's climate is generally warm and only mildly humid. Most of the trees cover that existed prior to European colonization has been removed due to farming and the production of charcoal fuel for cooking.
Haiti is crossed by several large rivers, but the longest and well-known one is le Fleuve de l' Artibonite. The four main plains include the Central, Northern, Artibonite, and Plaine du Cul-de-Sac which is very close to Haiti's, Port-au-Prince located on the west side of the island. The mountains are punctuated by hills and valleys, where most people live and work.
The highest peak, Pic la Selle, is located in the Massif de la Selle and rises to 8,793 feet (2,680 meters). The southern peninsula boasts the Massif de la Hotte and Massif de la Selle. The northern Massif du Nord is part of the island's backbone, which Dominicans call the Cordillera Central. Haiti's portion of Hispaniola is significantly more mountainous than the rest of the island, with successive mountain chains running east to west on both peninsulas. The mountainous, nearly barren island of la Gonâve, which belongs to Haiti, rests in the center of the gulf. It is comprised of two peninsulas split by the Gulf of la Gonâve. According to geographers' experts, Haiti is about three times the size of Cyprus Island but is slightly smaller than the U.S. Haiti covers 10,714 square miles, which stands for (27,750 square kilometers) of the island known as Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic.
0 kommentar(er)
