The native Taino who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when Christopher Columbus first landed on it in 1492 - were virtually wiped out by Spanish settlers within 25 years.

Haiti became the first country in the world led by former slaves after declaring its independence in 1804, but it was forced to pay an indemnity to France for more than a century and was shunned by other countries for nearly 40 years. Between 1957 and 1971 "Papa Doc" his son “Baby Doc” led corrupt regimes that repressively ruled Haiti.

A massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010 with an epicenter about 25 km (15 mi) west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Estimates are that over 300,000 people were killed and some 1.5 million left homeless. The earthquake was assessed as the worst in this region over the last 200 years.

On 4 October 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti, resulting in over 500 deaths and causing extensive damage to crops, houses, livestock, and infrastructure.

Haiti is currently the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and continues to experience bouts of political instability.

Case Studies which can be covered using Haiti

• An international migration

• A country with a high rate of natural population growth

• A country with a high dependent population

• An urban area or urban areas

• A rapidly growing urban area in a developing country and migration to it

• An earthquake

• An area of tropical rainforest (Hispaniola)

• A country or region suffering from food shortages

• An area where economic development is taking place and causing the environment to be at risk