Fort-Liberte

Fort-Liberté is the capital city of Haiti’s Nord-Est Department and the seat of Fort-Liberté Arrondissement. Fort-Liberté is Haiti’s oldest city. As the site of the Northeast Department’s government, Fort-Liberté is the least populous provincial capital in Haiti, with its independence proclaimed here on November 29,1803.

The city of Fort-Liberté successively bore the names of Puerto Real, Bayaha, and Fort-Dauphin. It was founded by the Spaniards in 1503 and raised to the rank of commune around 1674-1676. It was part of the ancient fortifications of the country in the 18th century.

Fort-Liberté is one of the oldest cities in Haiti. Founded in 1578 by the Spaniards who called it Bayaha, she is located at the entrance to a beautiful bay. This is where the French made their first disembarkation in 1802. Indeed, a division commanded by Rochambeau attacked the city and massacred defenders of the fort of the city two days before the fire of the Cape ordered by Henri Christophe. In the seventeenth century, buccaneers used the islets of the bay as a haven during hunting on the mainland. After the treaty of Rijswick in 1697, by which Spain recognizes the occupation by France of the western part of Hispaniola, Joseph of Honon de Gallifet, governor of la Tortue, installed soldiers in Bayaha dismissed from the garrison of Cap-Français, making the area a lookout post against the Spaniards. Several industries specializing in cane sugar and indigo had developed there.

1725- Transfer of the inhabitants of Bayaha to the current site of the city of Fort-Liberté.

1728- Creation of a military command at Bayaha.

1730- Laying of the first stone of the Maurepas stronghold at Fort Dauphin.

On August 8, 1730, Étienne de Chastenoye, governor of Île Sainte-Croix, laid the foundation stone of a fort: the fort and the town of Bayaha took the name of Fort-Dauphin, in honor of the Dauphin Louis-Ferdinand, son of King Louis XV2 (17th).

1730- M. de la Rocheleau gives the name of Fort Dauphin to the citadel and city of Bayaha for celebrate the first birthday of Prince Dauphin, son of King Louis XV.

1736- First garrison at Fort Bourque named Fort St. Louis in 1742.

1784- At least 84 houses destroyed at Fort Liberté by an earthquake.

1796- Fort-Liberté under the control of Toussaint Louverture.

1801- Fort-Liberté becomes the capital of the Island of Santo Domingo.

1802- Signature of the proclamation of independence.

1803 Drafting of the act of independence.

The first proclamation of the independence of Haiti was made in Fort-Dauphin on November 29, 1803 by Dessalines, Henri Christophe and Clervaux, a few days after the battle of Vertières.

1811- During a reception at Fort-Liberté on March 26, Christophe became king taking as Henry 1st name.

On March 26, 1811, Henri Christophe was proclaimed King of the North, under the name of Henry I, Fort-Dauphin, which was renamed Fort-Royal. The city took the name of Fort-Liberté at the end of the reign of Henri Christophe, in 1820.

The city of Fort-Liberty has suffered greatly from the earthquake of 1842, but we can still see several houses on the lower floor or old wooden balcony, dating from the colonial era. In the center of the Place d’Armes, designed in 1740 but profoundly modified thereafter, the fountain is surrounded by cannons recovered at Fort Dauphin after independence.

1849-59- Fort Labourque is transformed into a prison for the enemies of Emperor Faustin 1st, Faustin Soulouque.

1876- Opening of the port to foreign trade.

1901- September 27th: Law creating a Civil Court in Fort-Liberté of the category of those of Petit-Goâve and Saint-Marc, etc .;

1927- Creation of the Dauphin Plantation.

1962- Fort-Liberté becomes the chief town of the Northeast department.

The different names already used to designated strong freedom: Bayah, Fort-Dauphin, Fort-Royal, Fort-Liberté (Fort Freedom)

Geography: It has four communal sections and a neighborhood. It is coastal, its dominant relief is the plain and its climate is normal. Its inhabitants bear the name of Fort-Dauphinois. In 1998, the population of the commune of Fort-Liberté was estimated at 22,104 inhabitants and in 2015, it reached a little over 30,000. For an area of ​​255.43 km2, its density was estimated at 87 inhabitants / km2.

Economy: Regarding the economic and financial infrastructure, the municipality has two hotels, eight restaurants (two of medium size, and six small), a bank and a credit union.

Trade, agriculture, fishing, handicrafts remain the main economic activities of the municipality of Fort-Liberté. Four building materials, 24 food supply centers, five large stores and four warehouses were listed. In addition, there are three pharmacies, a hair salon, a photocopy and a dry cleaning.

Economy and trade of the region depend on agriculture encompassing pineapple, cotton, sisal, sugarcane, cocoa, logwood, honey and coffee plantations. Major water source of the town is the Marion River. Climate is nice and pleasant with cool breezes from the ocean.

Education: The Ministry of National Education of Youth and Sports is represented in the commune of Fort-Liberté by a departmental directorate. The distribution of schools is a Kindergarten, 10 public primary schools, several private and two congregational. At the secondary level, there is a public school and a few private schools. In addition, the community of Fort Liberté contains ten vocational schools, two literacy centers, a faculty and one other higher school.

Health: The Ministry of Public Health and Population is represented in the commune by a departmental office. There are two health centers, 3 clinics, and a hospital. In addition, eight physicians, two dentists, eighteen nurses, eleven auxiliaries, forty certified matrons and two laboratory technicians provide the health service at the commune.

Religion: Nearly twenty-six temples (churches and chapels included) were identified in the commune.

Organizations: The commune of Fort-Liberté has a political representation, two popular organizations, two NGOs and an international organization.

Utilities: In terms of water availability, the municipality has a river used for irrigation, three wells used for watering certain portions of land and public fountains equipped with about fifteen pumps. Only the city of Fort-Liberté is electrified; the average feeding frequency is forty-two hours per week.

Communication: The town has a telephone office with two functional lines (two cabins). There is also a postal office, three radio stations and a weekly newspaper.

Leisure: As for Leisure, the town has no museum, no theater, nor movie theater. There is one municipal library. Football (soccer) is the only sport practiced in the Commune. For monuments and sites, the town of Fort-Liberté has two forts: Fort Saint Joseph which has just been partially restored and Fort La Bouque.

Social cohesion and Development prospects:

Protect the historical heritage
Highlight the historical checkerboard
Protect the mangrove and the coastline
Structuring and densifying the extension to the South

Tourism: Sightseeing opportunities at Fort-Liberté include the Royal Port at Puerto Real town and the 1731 constructed fort at Laferrière built under the directives of the King of France, Louis XV. Two hills, mangrove forests, reefs and a sandy beach can be seen between the Point Yaquezi and Fort-Liberté Bay coastline.

Monuments and sites:

L’arc de triomphe – The triumphal arch is a monumental structure of yellow color built at the beginning of the twentieth century at the entrance of the city. Above this, an inscription, “gentleness in the effort”, reflects the sleepy nature of the city, long kept away from regional development.

La fontaine coloniale – The colonial fountain, located on Grande-Rue (Avenue Sténio-Vincent), was built in stone imported from France. It is now painted red and embedded between two houses.

La place d’Armes – Place d’Armes dates back to the colonial era and has undergone major transformations since the 18th century. Completed in 1787, a fountain is placed in the middle of the square. It aroused controversy because of its exorbitant cost at the time.

Le Fort Dauphin – Fort Dauphin or Fort Saint-Joseph is at the end of the Grande rue, at Pointe de Roche. The fort was built in the extension of the central axis of the city. Since 1730, it has been a strategic place completing the defensive system of protection of the interior of the grounds. It was completed in 1735, with the exception of the battery platforms in 1743.

L’île Bayau – Bayau Island, which was the favorite place of buccaneers in the seventeenth century. The west of the island was then reserved for the refit of large ships.

The Bouque forts are located at the mouth of the East Bay of Fort Liberté, it is joined with a canoe, motorboat or a boat from the pier near the customs. Fishermen organize excursions in the bay to access the four forts on the western bank of the Goulet, the “bouque” that the French built to defend access to Fort Dauphin. From south to north:

Fort Saint-Frédéric Fort Saint-Frédéric, started in 1740 and stayed north

Fort Saint-Charles the Fort Saint-Charles, built in the 1740s, and the Battery of the Cove, which dates from 1756, with its broken line parapet on the side of the sea and its powder magazine. Built on the site of a former Spanish fort, Fort Bouque received its first garrison in 1736 and served as a state prison under Emperor Faustin I. The ruins of its square dungeon are surrounded by a moat, all placed in a fortified enclosure. Part of the materials used for the construction of all these forts came from France, and served, as barrels and test ships.