PORT-AU-PRINCE

capital, chief port, and commercial centre of the West Indian republic of Haiti and the seat of Ouest dpartement. It is situated on a magnificent bay at the apex of the Golfe de la Gonve (Gulf of Gonaves), which is protected from the open sea by the island of Gonve. The city was laid out in a grid pattern in 1749 by the French and called L'Hpital. It has suffered frequently from earthquakes (especially in 1751 and 1770), fires, and civil strife. It replaced Cap-Hatien as the capital of the old French colony Saint-Domingue in 1770. In 1807 its port was opened to foreign commerce. Sanitary conditions were improved during U.S. occupation (1915-34). The city's bicentennial was commemorated in 1949 by an international exposition, the site of which is now a palm-fronted promenade. Textile, cottonseed oil, flour, and sugar mills are located in or near the city, and, to encourage cattle and horse breeding, the government established a stock-feeding station in 1959. There are air services to the main Caribbean islands, Canada, the United States, and Switzerland, and several luxury hotels have been built. Tourism fluctuates with political conditions. The National Palace (rebuilt in 1918), the army barracks, and an imposing statue of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, hero of the wars of independence, dominate the Place du Champ-de-Mars in the centre of the city. The most picturesque site is the brash and bustling Iron Market, where the vendors are mostly women. Other notable landmarks include the Cathedral of Notre Dame, with the adjacent colonial cathedral, and the National Archives, National Library, and National Museum. Port-au-Prince is the centre of the political and intellectual life of the nation and is the seat of the State University of Haiti (established in 1920). Recreation for the privileged centres around European-style social clubs, but the house of the local voodoo priest is still the heart of the urban poor community. Most of the Haitian elite (nearly all mulatto or nonblacks) live in the suburb of Ptionville in the 1,000-1,500-foot- (300-450-metre-) high hills southeast of Port-au-Prince. Haiti's small but politically important black middle class is also concentrated around Port-au-Prince. Squalor and neglect surround most of the black urban working class even more than the subsistence farmer, and constant migration from the countryside continues to exacerbate their misery. Pop. (1992 est.) city, 752,600; metropolitan area, 1,255,078.