Fort-Liberté
Fort-Liberté
Fòlibète Bayaha • Fort-Dauphin • Fort Saint Joseph • Fort Castries • Fort-Royal | |
|---|---|
.jpg) A view from the north of Fort-Liberte | |
  Fort-Liberté Location in Haiti | |
| Coordinates: 19°40′4″N 71°50′23″W / 19.66778°N 71.83972°W | |
| Country | Haiti |
| Department | Nord-Est |
| Arrondissement | Fort-Liberté |
| Area | |
| • Commune | 240.28 km2 (92.77 sq mi) |
| • Urban | 3.39 km2 (1.31 sq mi) |
| • Rural | 236.89 km2 (91.46 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2015)[1] | |
| • Commune | 34,434 |
| • Density | 140/km2 (370/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 26,929 |
| • Rural | 7,505 |
| Towns | 3 |
| Communal Sections | 4 |
Fort-Liberté (French pronunciation:
The area around Fort-Liberté was originally inhabited by
Demographics
As of 2015, the population of the commune of Fort-Liberté was estimated to be 34,434, of which 22,416 resided in the town itself. The number of households in the commune was 4,822, with an average of 4.5 individuals per household. The adult population (18+) made up 58% of the commune, with 42% under the age of 18.
Geography
Fort-Liberté is part of the
Fort-Liberté is a natural harbour of the
The fort is 40 nautical miles (74 km) from Port-de-Paix (the capital of Nord-Ouest) and 290 kilometres (180 mi) from Port-au-Prince (the capital of Haiti). The average elevation of the town is about 1 metre (3.3 ft).[5][8]
Fort-Liberté Bay
The coast line between Fort-Liberté Bay and Point Yaquezi is about 8 miles (13 km). It has a low sandy beach. It has reefs with mangrove forests, and two hills (spaced at 0.5 miles (0.80 km)) about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the west of the entrance to the bay. The hills are the markers for the entrance to the port. Land locked, Fort-Liberté Bay is spread over a length of5 miles (8.0 km) in the east–west direction and has a breadth of about of 1 mile (1.6 km). The shallow waters that extends to 1 mile (1.6 km) provides for adequate draft and safe anchorage conditions. The entrance to the fort is stated to be "about 1.25 miles (2.01 km) long with not less than 15 fathoms depth of water in the fairway but is narrow and tortuous, so that a sailing vessel entering requires the wind to be well to the northward of east, and its leaving must have a commanding land breeze." The coast line from the entrance to the bay extends to 6.5 miles (10.5 km) in an easterly direction extending to Manzanillo Bay. There is no wharf. The tides are high – spring rise is 5.75 feet (1.75 m) and neap is 3.5 feet (1.1 m). Vessels anchor at the port in 12 fathoms deep water with manoeuvring space of 600–1,200 yards (550–1,100 m) on the east and northeast direction of the Bayon Islet, which is in the midst of the bay. Another anchorage point with 9 fathoms depth is found to the east of the fort. The tidal current at the entrance is said to be low in the morning hours when it is the best time to enter the port.[9]
Fresh water resource
Marion River empties into the bay about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west of the Fort-Liberté and is the source of water supply to the town.[9]
Climate
The city has a pleasant climate with a cool ocean breeze and an average temperature of 86 °F (30 °C). Hispaniola island as a whole is subject to varying weather changes, which result in severe storms, such as hurricanes and sunshine.[7]
History
Between 1503 and 1505,
In 1606, the persons living in the old Spanish towns of Bayajá and Yaguana under the orders of the Spanish king, moved to the eastern part of the island, to a new town called Bayaguana, combining the two old names.[12] This episode in Dominican history is now known as the devastations of Osorio. The Spaniards had founded the city of Bayaha, now known as Fort-Liberté, one of the several towns of Hispaniola. The location became the historic site of Fort-Liberté as it was built in 1731 under the orders of Louis XV, King of France. Successive changes happened in the naming of the town reflecting the shift of power from Spanish to French colonization. The town was witness to the Haiti's first declaration of independence on November 29, 1803.[13]
Fort
.jpg)
The fort, as such, within the city limits was constructed in 1731 at the port near the land end facing the bay, built under the directive of Louis XV, King of France, in order to defend against invasions. Fort-Liberté is on the southern shore of the bay. It is about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north from the city centre. The shoal in front of the fort is steep and extends to about 20 yards (18 m). Now, only the fort ruins are seen as evidence of the ingenious design of the architects who selected the most strategic point on the island to build it overlooking the turquoise blue ocean waters. However, efforts have been made during the middle of the 1990s to restore the fort and the structures within it. Pilferage has seen the loss of the cannons and the cannonballs, apart from removal of stones imported from Nantes, France for pecuniary benefits without realising the gravity of the vandalism act. An issue of concern is the appearance of fissures in the fort walls, which are endangering the protection of forts from rains.[2][9]
The fort has a colonial cathedral, which is now the renovated entrance to the city. It is called the "Belle Entrée (Beautiful Gate). In the vicinity, other forts are the
The Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Culture, the Haitian representatives and the Royal Caribbean officials have launched a project to encourage tourism to Fort-Liberté and its fort and Port-au-Prince by building facilities of hotels and other infrastructure.[2]
Economy
The bay was the site of Caribbean's largest
Communal Sections
The commune consists of four communal sections, namely:
- Dumas, urban and rural, containing the city of Fort-Liberté
- Bayaha, rural
- Loiseau, urban and rural, containing the town of Dérac
- Haut Madeleine, urban and rural, containing the Quartier de l'Acul Samedi
References
- ^ a b c "Population totale, population de 18 ans et plus ménages et densités estimés en 2015" [Total Population, Population of 18 and over, Households and Densities Estimated in 2015] (PDF). IHSI (in French). March 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "Fort-Liberté: A captivating Site". Haitian Treasures. Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ "Exposition de l'événement du Fort-Liberté, des causes qui l'ont produit, et analyse des pièces y relatives (1799)". American Libraries: Archives. 1799. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-74104-292-4. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ a b "Population of Fort Liberté, Haiti". Mongabay.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ^ " "Newsletter". nwicatholic.com.
- ^ a b c John Relly,(1800–1876). "Toussaint L'Ouverture: A Biography and Autobiography: Electronic Edition". Documenting the American South. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Trade promotion series, Issue 122. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. 1931. p. 222. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
- ^ a b c United States. Hydrographic Office (1918). West Indies pilot, Volume 1. G.P.O. pp. 367–369. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
- ^ de Saint-Méry, M.L.E. Moreau (1797–1798). Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l'isle Saint-Domingue (in French). Philadelphia, Paris, Hambur.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-904777-97-7. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
Fort-Liberté, Haiti.
- ^ Moya Pons, Frank (1977). Manual de Historia Dominicana (in Spanish). Santiago: UCMM. p. 59.
- ISBN 978-0-313-34089-5. Retrieved 2010-07-01.