Port-au-Prince:
Port-au-Prince is the capital, chief port, and commercial center of the West Indian republic of Haiti. It is situated on a magnificent bay at the apex of the Gulf of Gonâve (Gonaïves), which is protected from the open sea by the island of La Gonâve. The city was laid out in a grid pattern in 1749 by the French and called L’Hôpital. It has suffered frequently from earthquakes (especially in 1751 and 1770), fires, and civil strife.
It replaced Cap-Haïtien as the capital of the old French colony Saint-Domingue in 1770. In 1807 its port was opened to foreign commerce. Sanitary conditions were improved during U.S. occupation (1915–34). The city’s bicentennial was commemorated in 1949 by an international exposition, the site of which is a palm-fronted promenade, now neglected and run-down.
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