Haiti

Why in news?

• Haiti's President was recently assassinated.

About Haiti:

• Haiti is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, to the east of Cuba and Jamaica and south of The Bahamas.
• It occupies the western three-eighths of the island which it shares with the Dominican Republic.
• It is the third largest country in the Caribbean by area, and has an estimated population of 11.4 million,  making it the most populous country in the Caribbean.
• The island was a colony and the French established lucrative sugarcane plantations, worked by vast numbers of slaves brought from Africa, which made the colony one of the richest in the world.
• In the midst of the French Revolution (1789–99), slaves and free people of color launched the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), led by a former slave and the first black general of the French Army, Toussaint Louverture.
• After 12 years of conflict, Napoleon Bonaparte's forces were defeated by Louverture's successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines (later Emperor Jacques I), who declared Haiti's sovereignty on 1 January 1804—the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the second republic in the Americas, the first country to abolish slavery, and the only state in history established by a successful slave revolt.
• Haiti is a founding member of the United Nations, Organization of American States (OAS), Association of Caribbean States.
• Historically poor and politically unstable, Haiti has the lowest Human Development Index in the Americas.

Prelims Question

Consider the following statements regarding Haiti:    
1.It is considered a high-income economy by World Bank.
2.It was a French colony.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to prelims question