As the case for just about everything, you really have to take a trip back to the beginning in order to fully understand its present state.  As a first time traveler to the country in May of 2009, my eyes were opened to a world of differences in comparison to The United States, and my heart as well to inform people on the country's condition.  My hope is that by reading this very brief history of Haiti that it will help you identify a little bit better with the current state of its people and culture.  And also, that it might also renew your passion to serve and pray for the country as a whole.

The history of the Republic of Haiti started about the same time that our very own did, in a time of sea/trade route exploration and a very familiar historical figure -- Christopher Columbus.  It was during that same classical trip of 1492 that Haiti saw its first settlers.  He came in to contact with the earliest, documented group of Haitians known as Tainos, meaning "men of the good".  They were known to many of the inhabitants in the Caribbean to be a very gentle and calm race of people.  And furthermore, these Tainos were the most flourishing civilization in the entire area.

The Spaniards, being a expanding force in those years, quickly took over the island and renamed it Espanola, which in English translates to Hispaniola.  They sought after the many gold mines throughout the island, as well as the abundance of slave opportunities for the nearly 3.5 million Tainos on the island in the end of the 15th century.  Over the course of about fifty years, the entire population of Tainos had been almost completely eradicated.  That was in part due to the brutality of the Spaniards, but probably even more so due to the diseases brought over to the New World from Europe. It was one of the most complete genocides in History.

As the prospect of gold became much more prevalent in areas such as Mexico and South America, the population of the Spanish colony scarcely grew.  The government called for a contraction of all the Spanish colonies towards their capital, Santo Domingo (in present day Dominican Republic) by the 1520's.  This inevitably led the French (another expanding force) to come in and set up a colony in the recently vacated area known as present day Haiti. In 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain officially ceded the western third of Hispaniola to France)  This colonization is important to note because this is where the present day population can trace its ancestry to.  The French decided to make the colony of St. Domingue of Haiti into one of the richest colonies in the world.  To do this, however, massive loads of African slaves were brought over to be brutally treated, just as the Tainos were, except on a much larger scale.  It is estimated that in those first one hundred years (by the late 1700's) that the slave population rose somewhere around the 800,000 mark, compared to the 35,000 governing whites.

It is no surprise then that very little of the African culture was every lost, especially its loyalty to a multiple spirit-based religion known as Vodou.  It was because of the oppression they faced in the late 1700's that an uprising occurred on the island for the freedom of all French slaves.  There were many slaves that tried to lead political revolutions, but none are more noted than Dutty Boukman.

There is a story known by many Haitians that on August 22nd in 1791 that Boukman played the role of chief priest in a Vodou ceremony at Bois Caiman.  During the ceremony it is said that Boukman raised a spirit through a drum, which gave the names of three other individuals who were to be leaders in a slave revolution that would allow the Saint Domingue slaves to be an independent state.  Days later the Haitian Revolution had begun.  Over the next two years both sides fought neck and neck, but eventually the slaves became too numerous for the French to bother dealing with anymore.  Thus, in 1804, the St. Domingue slaves officially declared their country with the name, Haiti, and as a country founded under the reign of Vodou spirits. The idea of a Vodou ceremony with spirits being raised and prophesying has serious implications to the doctrine of Christianity, and its connections to biblical demons. (More Information)

After achieving freedom from the French rule, it would be a lie to say the country improved.  Many leaders had so much disdain for the French that all those who were left on the island were executed.  While this partially satisfied the revenge of the slaves, the countries of the world began to ostracize the Haiti nation.  It received no international help from any other countries due to this act.  Add on top of that that France still did not recognize Haiti as a "completely" different nation after the war.  They (France) still stated that the Haitian nation were in a 150 million Franc debt to the French government, which the government of Haiti needed to rebuild a war torn country. As this constant arguing of "who owed who" played out, a man by the name of Jean Pierre Boyer rose to power in Haiti and desired to bring the nation together under one rule, as opposed to separate districts as they were at the time.  Ultimately he ended up doing this, but just before he left office in 1825 he repaid the 150 million Fran debt to France.  He completely mortgaged the countries future to France by doing this.  Haiti went from being one of the richest colonies in the entire world to one of the poorest during the 20 years of Boyer's rule.

After Boyer's rule the country of Haiti entered into a continuous stream of political instability over the next serveral decades.  Political leaders were killed or thrown out of office faster than they could even get anything done up until the early 1900's.  It wasn't until the United States took an interest into Haiti (for their own military advantage) in 1915 before a sense of calmness could be felt again.  The United States set up a peace keeping force called the Army of Haiti, until they left in 1934 and placed the country into the hands of the Haiti "Garde Nationale".

To go over what happened over the next 85 years, would be somewhat monotonous.  The pattern of Haiti returned to its usual course at the "Garde Nationale" was formed.  Many Haitian families gain a hold of the seat of presidency and then refuse to relinquish their power.  This led to a constant political unrest among the people and plenty of military coups. Because no standard government could ever stabilize the country of Haiti stood at a standstill for almost an entire decade. It was not, however, until the tensions peaked in what is known as the 2004 Haitian Revolution.

While the country had just elected its first democratically chosen President in 2001 (Jean-Bertrand Aristide), it was the Haitian gangs that were causing the insecurity in the country as a whole.  The poor neighborhoods of Haiti had armed gang issues constantly, and they were not handled with any political finesse by the official Haitian government.  Anti-Aristide gangs eventually reached peak power in 2004 when they captured the second largest city in Haiti, and threatened to take action against Port-au-Prince before they accomplished their mission, to get Aristide out of office and to reinstate the nation under the reign of the Voudou spirits.  It was then that the United Nations, led by Brazil, officially entered into the country.  Along with primary UN Forces from United States, France, Canada, and Chile...the UN is still occupying the country, attempting to maintain peace.

Since the 2004 Haitian Revolution, things in Haiti have been taking a turn for the better.  While there is still too much suffering and hunger throughout the country, there is a sense of ongoing progress.  The people of the country have been through a lot, but their joy is still evident if you look.  As Christians, we pray to see the Gospel consume this country in the upcoming days.  We hope to see a Haitian nation that looks to the Jesus that the Bible speaks for direction.  While the history and present day History can define suffering for us farther than many of us could possibly imagine, it's comforting to know that God is control of everything and has the ability to change even the most hopeless situations.  By understanding their history as a country, and where the culture has originated from, it allows you a whole new way to go about preaching the Gospel of Hope.