LOCATION                                                                                    

 

Haiti is in the western one-third of the island of Hispaniola between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. This small, tropical country is west of the Dominican Republic and is south of the island of Cuba.

The land is mountainous. Hayti is the Indian name for the country and means "land of the mountains." The mountain peaks reach over 8,000 feet (2,400 meters). The country lies in the path of many hurricanes and in 2008 faced destruction from four tropical storms. In 2010, thousands of people were killed and the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince was destroyed in a 7.0 earthquake.