Population: 11,334,637
Motto: “L’Union Fait La Force” which means “Union Makes Strength.”
Haiti’s currency is the gourde, named after the food, the gourd. Until 1807, the plant itself was the actual currency.
A lot of firsts: first black-led republic after it threw off French colonial control and slavery in the early 19th century; first independent Caribbean state; first independent nation in Latin America; first country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery.
The word zombie comes from the Haitian zombi. Haitian slaves used the word in reference to their belief that dying would release them back to Guinea, or Africa, a form of an afterlife where they would be free.
The official national anthem is “La Dessalinienne” (The Dessalines Song):
For the country,
Listen to the national anthem.
For the ancestors,
Let us march. Let us march united.
Let there be no traitors in our ranks!
Let us be masters of our soil.
United let us march
For the country,
For the ancestors.
For the forefathers,
For the country
Let us toil joyfully.
When the field is fertile
Our soul strengthens.
Let us toil joyfully
For our forebears,
For our country.
For the country
And for the forefathers,
Let us train our sons
Free, strong, and prosperous,
We shall always be brothers.
Let us train our sons
For the country
And for the forefathers.
For the forefathers,
For the country,
Oh God of the valiant!
Take our rights and our life
Under your infinite protection,
Oh God of the valiant!
For the forefathers,
For the country.
For the flag,
For the country
To die is a glorious deed!
Our past cries out to us:
Have a seasoned soul!
To die is a glorious deed,
For the flag,
For the country.