Fort-Liberté

Fort Liberté (; ) is a commune and administrative capital of the Nord Est department of Haiti. It is close to the border of the Dominican Republic and is one of the oldest cities in the country. Haiti's independence was proclaimed here on November 29, 1803. The area around Fort Liberté was originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and later by Spanish colonists, who founded the city of Bayaja in 1578, but abandoned it in 1605. The site was reoccupied by the French in 1732 as Fort Dauphin; it was captured by Spanish forces in 1794, restored to the French in 1801 and then surrendered to the British on 8 September 1803, shortly before the declaration of independence. The city has undergone a succession of name changes: Bayaja (1578), Fort Dauphin (1732), Fort St. Joseph (1804), Fort Royal (1811) and finally Fort Liberté (1820). The town is the see city of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Liberté.

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. Haitian Creole is spoken in this area, with the more educated people also speaking French. The most common religious affiliations are Roman Catholic and Haitian Vodou.

The coast line between Fort Liberté Bay and Point Yaquezi is about 8 mile (13 km). It has a low sandy beach. It has reefs with mangrove forests, and two hills (spaced at 0.5 mile (1 km)) about 3.5 mile (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 mile (8 km) in the east–west direction and has a breadth of about of 1 mile (2 km). The shallow waters that extends to 1 mile (2 km) provides for adequate draft and safe anchorage conditions. The entrance to the fort is stated to be "about 1.25 mile (2 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 mile (10 km) in an easterly direction extending to Manzanillo Bay. There is no wharf. The tides are high – spring rise is 5.75 feet (2 m) and neap is 3.5 feet (1 m). Vessels anchor at the port in 12 fathoms deep water with manoeuvring space of 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.

Marion River empties into the bay about 1 mile (2 km) to the west of the Fort Liberté and is the source of water supply to the town.

Between 1503 and 1505, Nicolás de Ovando, Spanish governor of Hispaniola, founded the town of Puerto Real ("Royal Port"), which today lies around the town of Caracol, to the west of Fort Liberté. However, soon this town was abandoned and the people moved to the east and in 1578 a new town was founded with the Taíno name of the region, Bayajá. Caracol was thought to be near the location where Santa Maria, Columbus's flagship struck a reef and sank on Christmas Day in 1492. The shipwreck was salvaged for its wood to build settlements known as La Navidad, which was decimated by Taino Indians led by its chief Guanagarix after Columbus left the place. This was discovered by the American Archaeologist William Hodges while excavating at Puerto Real, a city founded at the same spot years later. Relics gathered from this site are displayed at museum Limbe. However, no trace of the site is visible at the location. 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.

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 mile (1 km) north from the city centre. The shoal in front of the fort is steep and extends to about 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. From the time of colonization, the economy of the island has been essentially agriculture centric. Plantation tillage has been the main occupation, inclucing sugar cane, coffee, sisal, cocoa, and cotton. In 1789, the French part of the island had 793 sugar plantations, 3,117 coffee plantations, 789 cotton plantations, and 182 establishments for making rum, plus other minor factories and workshops. In 1791, investments were largely oriented towards these cultivations. Trade and economy of the city and its precincts, at present are – coffee, cacao, honey, logwood, pineapple, and sisal, which are the principal products.