Monday, March 28, 2016

Haiti Flag And Its History

By Adam Bright


Haiti, in the West Indies, occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. About the size of Maryland, Haiti is two-thirds mountainous, with the rest of the country marked by great valleys, extensive plateaus, and small plains.

Haiti forms part of the island of Hispaniola. Before the Europeans arrived a people called the Arawaks lived there. However on 6 December 1492, Christopher Columbus landed at Mole Saint-Nicolas on the northwest and called the island Espanola, which was later anglicized as Hispaniola.

In 1797, Toussaint was made commander of the French army in Hispaniola. By 1801, he was in control of the island. He declared all slaves free and made himself head of a new government. He also published a new constitution. Fearing they were losing their colony the French sent an army under General Charles Leclerc. Using a trick Leclerc captured Toussaint. However, his army was decimated by fever. Furthermore, a former slave called Jean-Jacques Dessalines continued the struggle against the French and on 1 January 1804 the island became independent. It was renamed Haiti.

The banner first came into usage in 1806 and was made official by the national constitution on February 25, 2012. The banner of Haiti is a bicolor banner, partitioned with blue on the upper half and red on the lower half.

In the center, the coat of arms of Haiti is positioned in a white rectangle. The coat of arms features a palm tree, topped with the Phrygian cap, a symbol of liberty, and surrounded by six Haitian flags. The tree is flanked by cannons, and between them are several objects, including a drum and bugles, and a broken chain. Across the bottom of the coat of arms is a banner that reads "L'Union Fait La Force," which means "Unity is Strength."

The shades of the Haitian banner mirror Haiti's status as a previous French province, using the red and blue from the French banner. The story behind this likeness is that the progressive Jean-Jacques Dessalines made the banner from the French banner, uprooting the white focus and turning the stripes, the blue, and red left to speak of Haitians. The blue spoke to the previous slaves and the red spoke to the mulatto population, who are individuals of blended high contrast family line.




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