Limonade

Limonade, is a commune of the Cap-Haïtien Arrondissement located in Haiti’s Nord Department.

Travelling east from Cap-Haïtien to Ouanaminthe you soon come across the tiny village painted dab in the middle of the Maribaroux plain. Goats graze in fields, children ride burros and farmers in boots and straw hats contribute a Van Gogh moment to a frieze of banana trees and corn stalks.

This is lush terrain . . . for agriculture. The rumour mill says Hansoll has its sights on Limonade, forecasting the creation of as many as 120,000 jobs. Proximity to the U.S. gives the region competitive advantages over Asian companies of the same industry.

Limonade is nowadays a city very animated by its economy and qualified human resources, a university town that maintains its historic character.

Around 70,000 people inhabit the place. Limonade is remotely placed on Haiti’s northern (Atlantic) coast. Roucou, Basse Plaine and Bois de Lance are the three neighboring settlements within the boundaries of Limonade.

History: Limonade, the “University Town”, was formerly called Puerto Real. The city was founded in 1676 and raised to the rank of commune in 1864.

On December 24, 1492, during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, his flagship, the Santa Maria, sank off the locality of Bord de Mer. Thanks to the men of the tribe of the cacique of the Marien, Guacanagarix, which Columbus had met with two days before, the bulk of the cargo was landed on the mainland.

Unable to take all the men of his crew on the two ships which remained to him, the navigator then made the decision to implant the first permanent European establishment of the American continent, named Navidad, located on the site of the village of In Bas Saline.

Of the 39 men left in a small fort built with the wood of the failed ship, none survived before the return of Columbus next year. The brutality and greed of the new settlers led the Taino Indians to slaughter them for revenge.

Excavations, carried out since 1979 by the American archaeologists, made it possible to confirm the presence of the Spanish colonists on the site of the village of En Bas Saline. The Spaniards named this place “Puebla Limon” because of the presence of many lemon trees. Around 1670, the Governor General of Santo Domingo, Bertrand d’Ogeron de La Bouere, had a royal ordinance executed, ordering the construction of the Cape and Limonade district.

In 1676, the town of Limonade, built by Bertrand d’Ogeron de La Bouëre, received its inhabitants. On January 21, 1691, Limonade is the scene of an important clash between the French and the Spanish. In retaliation for the attack and destruction of Santiago (Saint-Yague, in the eastern part of the island) in June 1690, three thousand Spaniards attacked the French. The battle made more than 300 victims among the French, including Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy and Francois Depardieu de Franquesnay (Family Pardieu) both former governors of the island of Tortue.

After the Treaty of Rijswick in 1697, by which Spain recognizes the occupation by France of the western part of Santo Domingo, Limonade started to develop rapidly: The sugar industry began multiplying at the same time as the start of the slave trade.

Geography: The town of Limonade has three communal sections and a district. It is either interior or coastal depending on where you are. The dominant relief of the town is the plains and its climate is normal. Its inhabitants bear the name of Limonadien. In 1998, the population of the commune of Limonade was estimated at 40,714 inhabitants, it could reach about 45,119 inhabitants in 2004. The town center has an area of ​​1.7 Km2 (about 1 square mile) and a density was 12,001 inhabitants / km2 (about 20,281 per square mile).

Economy: In terms of economic and financial infrastructure, the town has seen a recent in increase in Qualified Human Resources; More than 150 specialists in land use, environment, urban planning and municipal services since the end of 2016. In terms of economic activity, trade and agriculture come first. Commercial establishments in the town of Limonade consist of warehouses, shops, building materials and a food provisioning center. Two pharmacies, four photocopying services and a hairdressing salon were counted in the municipality.

Education: The King Henri Christophe University is a new campus of the State University of Haiti in the agglomeration of Cap-Haïtien. An inauguration was held on January 12, 2012 in the town, after more than 17 months of work (first stone laid on July 31, 2010). Funded by the Dominican Republic, it hosts 10,000 students in what is considered Haiti’s most modern university infrastructure. It is composed of several three-story buildings comprising: 72 classrooms for 30 students each, a library, meeting rooms, computer labs, accountants, scientists, as well as academic, administrative and recreational facilities .

The Ministry of National Education of Youth and Sports is represented in the municipality by a school district office. The school district brought together eight primary public schools, several private and one congregational. At secondary level, there are four schools, one public and three private, in addition to a vocational school. At the time of the survey, there were no kindergarten nor high school in the commune.

Health: In terms of health, the Ministry of Public Health and Population is not represented in the municipality of Limonade. On the other hand, medical teams of certified matrons, doctors and a laboratory technician provide the sanitary service in the municipality of Limonade.

Utilities: The city now hosts the largest waste treatment site in Haiti, located in Mouchinette, a small town in the east of the city.

Religion: Sixteen churches were counted in the commune. The Pentecostal churches reveal themselves to be more numerous (38%).

Utilities: The commune has a river, five springs, five public fountains, and over 200 wells. In terms of electricity and communication, only the city center is electrified.

Communication: At the time of the inventory a project was underway to provide the commune with a telephone office. There is no postal service, no radio station, no newspaper / magazine, no television station.

Leisure: As for Culture and Leisure, the town does not have a library, museum, theater nor movie theater. The sports practiced are: football (soccer), volleyball and basketball, but the absence of formal (specific) places to practice is very well known. Regarding the monuments and sites, they are of three types: colonial, historical and natural.

History: It was in Limonade that the first Christmas was celebrated in 1492 by Christopher Columbus and his crew. At Bord de Mer the great explorer he had docked his ship in the land he conquered near Limonade. In 1714, Charles Fournier de la Chapelle a well known French judge was born in Limonade.

Francois Capois, the well known hero of the Revolution in Haiti, was murdered in Limonade in 1806. He was a popular hero of the rebellion against slaves in Haiti. Historic community of this place is honored via a website maintained by a noted NGO named Sonje Ayiti.

Living In Limonade: Limonade enjoys tropical wet and hot climate just like the rest of Haiti. Transportation sometimes becomes difficult, the river banks break, river floods and the roads get washed away when the floods are severe during the rains. Most of the people live below the poverty line. Literacy rate is only 45% as per estimates.

Economy: Keeping livestock and farming on a small scale are the occupations practiced by people in Limonade even if it is difficult to afford livestock here. Migration out of the town has increased with a lot of youngsters moving out in search of jobs. In Haiti, it is one of the poorest regions. Inhabitants have been ravaged by numerous hurricanes that hit the town. Facilities for clean water were destroyed by the hurricane in 2008.

Transportation And Education: Limonade has no airports and the town roads are mostly dirt roads. To reach Limonade, Cap-Haitien Airport is the closest airport.

A university worth 30$ million is being built by the Dominican Republic. During the 2 year commemoration of the earthquake in 2010, the official opening of the l’université Roi Henri took place.