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Haiti GEOGRAPHY
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Figure 11. Topography and Drainage
Haiti is a country of only about 28,000 square
kilometers,
about the size of the state of Maryland
(see
fig. 11). It
occupies the western third of the Caribbean island of
Hispaniola
(La Isla Espańola); the Dominican Republic takes up the
eastern
two-thirds. Shaped like a horseshoe on its side, Haiti has
two
main peninsulas, one in the north and one in the south.
Between
the peninsulas is the Ile de la Gonāve
(see
fig. 11).
Northwest of the northern peninsula is the Windward
Passage,
a strip of water that separates Haiti from Cuba, which is
about
ninety kilometers away. The eastern edge of the country
borders
the Dominican Republic. A series of treaties and
protocols--the
most recent of which was the Protocol of Revision of
1936--set
the 388-kilometer eastern border, which is formed partly
by the
Pedernales River in the south and the Massacre River in
the
north.
The mainland of Haiti has three regions: the northern
region,
which includes the northern peninsula; the central region;
and
the southern region, which includes the southern
peninsula. In
addition, Haiti controls several nearby islands.
The northern region consists of the Massif du Nord
(Northern
Massif) and the Plaine du Nord (Northern Plain). The
Massif du
Nord, an extension of the central mountain range in the
Dominican
Republic, begins at Haiti's eastern border, north of the
Guayamouc River, and extends to the northwest through the
northern peninsula. The Massif du Nord ranges in elevation
from
600 to 1,100 meters. The Plaine du Nord lies along the
northern
border with the Dominican Republic, between the Massif du
Nord
and the North Atlantic Ocean. This lowland area of 2,000
square
kilometers is about 150 kilometers long and 30 kilometers
wide.
The central region consists of two plains and two sets
of
mountain ranges. The Plateau Central (Central Plateau)
extends
along both sides of the Guayamouc River, south of the
Massif du
Nord. It runs eighty-five kilometers from southeast to
northwest
and is thirty kilometers wide. To the southwest of the
Plateau
Central are the Montagnes Noires, with elevations of up to
approximately 600 meters. The most northwestern part of
this
mountain range merges with the Massif du Nord. Southwest
of the
Montagnes Noires and oriented around the Artibonite River
is the
Plaine de l'Artibonite, measuring about 800 square
kilometers.
South of this plain lie the Chaīne des Matheux and the
Montagnes
du Trou d'Eau, which are an extension of the Sierra de
Neiba
range of the Dominican Republic.
The southern region consists of the Plaine du
Cul-de-Sac and
the mountainous southern peninsula. The Plaine du
Cul-de-Sac is a
natural depression, twelve kilometers wide, that extends
thirtytwo kilometers from the border with the Dominican Republic
to the
coast of the Baie de Port-au-Prince. The mountains of the
southern peninsula, an extension of the southern mountain
chain
of the Dominican Republic (the Sierra de Baoruco), extend
from
the Massif de la Selle in the east to the Massif de la
Hotte in
the west. The range's highest peak, the Morne de la Selle,
is the
highest point in Haiti, rising to an altitude of 2,715
meters.
The Massif de la Hotte varies in elevation from 1,270 to
2,255
meters.
The four islands of notable size in Haitian territory
are Ile
de la Gonāve, Ile de la Tortue (Tortuga Island), Grande
Cayemite,
and Ile ą Vache. Ile de la Gonāve is sixty kilometers long
and
fifteen kilometers wide. The hills that cross the island
rise to
heights of up to 760 meters. Ile de la Tortue is located
north of
the northern peninsula, separated from the city of
Port-de-Paix
by a twelve-kilometer channel. Ile ą Vache is located
south of
the southern peninsula; Grande Cayemite lies north of the
southern peninsula.
Numerous rivers and streams, which slow to a trickle
during
the dry season and which carry torrential flows during the
wet
season, cross Haiti's plains and mountainous areas. The
largest
drainage system in the country is that of the Artibonite
River.
Rising as the Libón River in the foothills of the Massif
du Nord,
the river crosses the border into the Dominican Republic
and then
forms part of the border before reentering Haiti as the
Artibonite River. At the border, the river expands to form
the
Lac de Péligre in the southern part of the Plateau
Central. The
400-kilometer Artibonite River is only one meter deep
during the
dry season, and it may even dry up completely in certain
spots.
During the wet season, it is more than three meters deep
and
subject to flooding.
The ninety-five-kilometer Guayamouc River is one of the
principal tributaries of the Artibonite River. The most
important
river in the northern region is Les Trois Rivičres, or The
Three
Rivers. It is 150 kilometers long, has an average width of
sixty
meters, and is three to four meters deep.
The most prominent body of water in the southern region
is
the salt-water Etang Saumātre, located at the eastern end
of the
Plaine du Cul-de-Sac. At an elevation of sixteen meters
above sea
level, the lake is twenty kilometers long and six to
fourteen
kilometers wide; it has a circumference of eighty-eight
kilometers.
Haiti has a generally hot and humid tropical climate.
The
north wind brings fog and drizzle, which interrupt Haiti's
dry
season from November to January. But during February
through May,
the weather is very wet. Northeast trade winds bring rains
during
the wet season.
The average annual rainfall is 140 to 200 centimeters,
but it
is unevenly distributed. Heavier rainfall occurs in the
southern
peninsula and in the northern plains and mountains.
Rainfall
decreases from east to west across the northern peninsula.
The
eastern central region receives a moderate amount of
precipitation, while the western coast from the northern
peninsula to Port-au-Prince, the capital, is relatively
dry.
Temperatures are almost always high in the lowland areas,
ranging
from 15° C to 25° C in the winter and from 25° C to
35° C
during the
summer.
Data as of December 1989
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