Haiti, History

The island of Hispaniola, of which Haiti occuppies the the Westernthird, was inhabitedby the Taino arawaks, a seafaring branch ofthe south american Ararawaks, Christopher columbus landed at mole St.Nicholas on 5 dec. 1492, and claimed the island for spain.90 days later, his ship SantaMariaran aground near the present site ofCap-haitien, columbuswas forcedto leave 39 menfounding thesettlement of LaNavidad Ayiti, which means "maountainous land", isa name usedby the Tiano - Arawak people, who also valledsome sectionsof it Bohio,meaning "rich villages" . Kiskeya was yet a third term that has been attributed to the Tainos for the island.

followingn the destruction of La Navidad by the Amerindians, columbus moved to the eastern side of the island and established La Isabela.The Spanish Colony, Santo Domingo, became a staging point for later expeditions and provided supplies for the conquistadores in Mexico and elsewhere.

The first aministrator for santo Domingo was a brother of Christopher Columbus. The spaniards were given estates on the island and the right to compel the labor of the natives. The native population very nearly disappeared during the first half of the 16th century as a result of epidemies and enslavement.

by the end of the 16th century Spain was losing control of the seas to French, Dutch and british forces. By the middle of the 17th century French settlers occupied the island of Tortuga off the north coast of Hispaniola and later French huguenots began to settle the north coast of what is now Haiti.

History of Haiti

Chronology

Before 1492

1492-1791

1791-1804

1804-1843

1843-1915

1915-1986

1986-present

Topics

Saint domingue

Haitian Revolution

United states occupation

2004 Haitian rebellion

Time line

Military History

Haiti, Introduction

Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a creole-and French speaking Caribean country. Along with the Dominican Republic , it occupies the island of Hispaniola. Ayiti (land on high) was the indegenous name of Taino. the country's highest point is 8,793 ft high.

Haiti's regional, historical, and ethnolinguistic position is unique for several reasons. It was the first independent nation in latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the the only nation whose independence was signed as part of a successful slave rebellion. Haiti is the only predominately francophone independent nation in the Americas, and one of only two (along with canada) which designate french as an official language.

Haiti is a country with a number of notable attributes, some good and some bad. It is one of the two countries which werenotable to abolish slavery without the extensive bloodshed of civil war wereHaiti and the US. The US and haiti share the record for the extremes of percapita income. The US has the highest percapita income in the Americas and haiti has the lowest.

As per national average per capita income using Atlas method , est.2003, is 380 $. Its rank from the top is 176 and from the bottom is 30th. in the world and first in Latin America.

In IMF, WB and CIA measurement with est. 2007 and 2008,

IMF..................WB................CIA

rank/est........rank/est.....rank/est

147/699......144/638.....153/624.

Zambia, economy

After Independence zambia adopted a left wing economical policy. The economy was to some extent run by central planning , under five years plans. private companies were nationalised and incorporated into big state owned conglomerates. . in the mid-70s the economy started to decline drastically. During the the period beteen 1975to 1990, Zambia's economy dropped by approximately 30 %. The reason was snk of copper industry.

Kalambo Falls

Independence

The major Nkana open coppert mine, kitwe

About 68 % of zambins live below the recognised national poverty line, with rural poverty line being 78 % and urban 53 %.

Wire craft in Kitwe

Zambian children

Mwata Kazembe XVII, chief of the Lunda in zambia. 1961

Zambia, Independence Era

The nationalist movemenet was given impetus in the early 1950s when the colonial office agreed to have Northern Rhodesia joined in afederation withNyasaland (Malawi), a British protectorate, and southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Southern Rhodesia under white settler rule, was bankruptand saw Northern Rhodesia, with its copper wealth as, to quote one of its political figures , a "milch cow".

Zambian opposition to Federation , in which few whites and asians were prominent, was not strong enough to prevent to prevent its imposition in 1953. During its ten years of existence, as Zambians had anticipated , hundreds of millions of pounds were siphoned off to southern Rhodesia. The white settlers there built up an impressive economic structure while the milch cow remained without a single decent tarred highway, let alone a university or even an adequate school system or health service.

In the mid-fifties, the failed campaign against federation became struggle for full independence. The federation was disslved in1963 and zambia at midnight of 24th oct. 1964, became an independent republic with him as president.

From 1964 to 1991 Zambia was an one party state. after oct. 1991, in which Fredrick Chiluba, a trade unionist became the president in place of Kaunda. In a fresh constitution an election was held on Dec. 2001 and Mwanawasa sworn in as president and he continued till date.

Cecil Rhodes

LIberation Statue in front of a government Building

A poster from the Anti-corruption Commission

Zambia, European Invasion

The earliest European made byFrancisco de Lcerdain the late 18th century, followed by other explorers in the 19th century.The mostprominent of these was David livingstone, whohad a visionof ending the slave tradethrough the "3Cs" (Christianity, commerce andcivilisation). Hewas the first Europeanto see themagnificient waterfalls on the Zambezi river in 1855, naming them Victoria falls, afterQueen Victoria. locally the falls are known "Mosioa-Tunya". The town of Livingstone, near the falls, is named after him.

A statue of livingstoneon the Zambian side of Victoria

Highly publicised accounts of his journeys motivated a wave of explorers, missionaries,and traders after his death in 1873.

In 1888, The british South African Company, (BSA) led by Cecil Rhodes , obtained numerous rights from the Litunga, the King of the Lozi for the area which later became north-western Rhodesia.To the east, the King Mpezeniof the Ngoni resisted but was defeated in battle and that part of the country came to be known as North-Eastern Rhodesia. The two were administered as separate units until 1911 when they were merged to form northern Rhodesia.In 1923, the company ceded control of Northern Rhodesiato the British Government after the government decided not to renew the the company's charter.

The same year , Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which was also administered by the BSA Company,became self governing . In 1924, after negotiations, administration of Northern Rhodesia transferred to the British Colonial office. In 1953, the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland grouped together Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now Malawi)as a single semi-autonomous region.This was undertaken despite opposition from a sizeable minorityof Africans, who demonstrated against it in 1960-61. Northern rhodesia was the centre of much of the turmoil and crisis characterizing the federation in its last years. Initially , Henry Nkumbula's African National Congress (ANC) led the campaign that Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP) subsequently took up.

A two stage election held in Oct. and Dec. 1962 resulted in an African majority in the legislature and an uneasy coalition between the two African nationalist parties. and in Jan. 1864 Kaunda won an election to form Northern Rhodesia.

Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia on 24 Oct. 1964, with Kaunda as the first Prime Minister.

Zambia, Immigration (continued)

By 1516 the Portuguese had through the force of arms seized the Indian Ocean trade and what is relevant to the course of Mozambique abd angola.

Although the portuguese happily bought the ivory and copper that central africa produced the slave rapidly became and for centuries remained a major item of commerce . This monstrous crime against humanity was as easily condoned by believers on God as was the holocaust ny the Nazis.

zambezi River

The tendencies of the slave trade penetrated remorselessly into the deep interior of te central Africa, where, during the same period, the later iron age monarchies , we had mentioned , were being instituted.

Zambezi delta

Domestic slave trade was a part of social order of central African states, with, for example, miscreants, criminals, and prisners of war held in bondage. very rarely i the portuguese have to go raiing to capture slaves by selling the rulers goods such as cloth, rum, jewellery, and firearmsthey drew the rulers into their colonial economy as supplies of slave labor for the mines and plantations across the Atlantic.

zambia, Immigration

The centuries between 1500 1n 1800 AD saw many of the peoples of Zambia organised into chieftaincies or monachies.The Chew in the east, the Lozi in the west, The bemba and Lunda in the north,were the largest of these, all established under the influence, some as direct extensions of the large and powerful Lunda empire of the Mwata Yamvo in what is now southern Zaire. By the 18th century, probably much earlier, the empire was trading with the AtlanticCoast , and other states on the eastern seaboard , where the world economy was represented by the Swahili city states from Somlia to south of the Zambezi delta. Copper, Ivory, Rhino horn had a ready market as well as slaves.

Victoria

The European factor

The wealth of the indian Ocean trade inspired the Portuguese to embark on their bold Voyages of Discovery. Africa had been circumnavisated from east to west by a phoenician fleet in Faraonic times, and the Portuguese were determined to do the same from west to east and break the Muslim grip on the supply of Spices from asia to Europe which was being drained of billion to pay for them In 1498, Admiral vasco da gama, having sailed his ships around the Cape of Good hope, arrived at calcutta in southern India and having bombardedand plundered the city , returned to Lisbon with a cargo of immense wealth.

Zambezi river basin