Haiti Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hispaniola

Hispaniola is the 22nd geographically largest island in the world and the second largest island in the Caribbean. It is located between Cuba (to the west) and Puerto Rico (to the east). Despite the fact that both Haiti and the Dominican Republic are so close to each other, Haiti has historically been much worse off speaking in economic and demographic terms. For instance, in 2010, the life expectancy in the Dominican Republic was 12.7 greater than the life expectancy in Haiti, and the literacy rate was 34.1% higher in the Dominican Republic than Haiti.

Answer: Christopher Columbus

In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the island, and named it La Isla Española ("the Spanish Island"), or Hispaniola. Before he discovered it and claimed it for Spain, the Taíno, an Arawakan people, inhabited it. They called their island Bohio, Ayiti, or Kiskeya.

Answer: Germany

Spain colonized Haiti in 1492. In 1664, Spain gave Haiti to France, which occupied the western third of Hispaniola, and occupied it until Haitian Revolution. The Haitian Revolution began with a 1791 slave revolt, and ended in the early 1800s when the Haitians gained independence. Britain assisted the Haitian rebels in this Haitian Revolution.

Answer: Mostly rough and mountainous

Some of Haiti's mountains rise above 8,000 feet! They cut off the trade winds from the east, which is one of the reasons it is so hot in Haiti.

Answer: True

Deforestation has been a major problem for Haiti. From 1923 to 2006, the portion of forested land in correlation to land dropped from sixty percent to less than two percent. One of the worst effects of this has been rampant soil erosion. It has meant that many Haitians literally have had no food.

The government has been mostly powerless to regulate logging companies - due to its own corruption and poverty.

Answer: All of these routinely happen

Haiti is in the middle of the hurricane belt, and is plagued with many natural disasters. This is one of the reasons it is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Answer: An earthquake

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 Mw struck Haiti. It happened near Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital and most populous city, and therefore killed an extremely large amount of people. It also knocked down much of Haiti's main infrastructure. Because of Haiti's poverty, most of the buildings weren't built well enough to withstand the earthquake.

Answer: French

The two official languages of Haiti are Haitian Creole and French. However, 90-95% of Haitians do not know French. The most common language is Haitian Creole, which is a mixture of French, Spanish, English, Portuguese and a multitude of African languages.

Answer: The Atlantic Ocean

Haiti is bordered by three bodies of water - the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

Answer: Maryland

Haiti's total area is about 10,714 square miles. Maryland's total area is about 12,407 square miles. Maryland is the smallest U.S. state that is bigger than Haiti.