In the administrative divisions of Haiti, the department (french: département d'Haïti, ; ht, depatman Ayiti) is the first of four levels of government. Haiti is divided administratively into ten departments, which are further subdivided into 42

arrondissements An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements' ...

, 145 communes, and 571 communal sections. In 2014, there was a proposal by the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

to increase the number of departments from 10 to 14 —perhaps as high as 16.

Administration

Each

departement In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety- ...

has a

departmental council ''Departmental'' is a 1980 Australian TV movie based on a play by Mervyn Rutherford. It was part of the ABC's Australian Theatre Festival.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p43 Reviews were poor ...

(''conseil départemental'') compound of three members elected by the departmental assembly for a 4-year term. The departmental council is led by a

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

(''président''). The council is the executive organ of the department. Each department has a departmental assembly who assists the council in its work. The departmental assembly is the deliberative organ of the department. The members of the departmental assembly are also elected for 4 years. The departmental assembly is led by a president.

History

Three Departments have roots in the former French colony of

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to ref ...

, namely: the

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

, Sud, and Ouest. In 1801, under Governor-General

Toussaint Louverture François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (; also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda; 20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803) was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louverture ...

, the "provinces," became known as ''departments''. The departement of l'Artibonite was known as departement of Louverture. Under the administration of Dessalines the country was administrated by military divisions. In 1821, Artibonite was created and in 1844, Nord-Ouest, both derived out of the Nord and Ouest departments. In 1962 during the reign of Duvalier, four new departments were created out of a territorial redistribution. These departments were:

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, Grand'Anse, Nord-Ouest and Sud-Est. In 2003, a tenth department was created out of Grand'Anse, called Nippes. In the 1990s, before the creation of Nippes, the was a phrase commonly used in regards to the

Haitian diaspora Haiti has a sizeable diaspora, present primarily in the United States, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Canada, France (including its French Caribbean territories), the Bahamas, Brazil and Chile. They also live in other countries like Belgium, Turks a ...

. Since then, the phrase was soon adopted to describe the diaspora.

Demographics

Data based on 2015 estimates from the Haitian government.

Proposed

Although not being official there is a interest in the creation of new departements and changing the names from geographical positions to natives Taino names. There is also a proposal to join these departement unber a new legislature by region thus making Regions (The Great-North or Marien, Centre or Artibonite, West or Gonave-Azuei ans South or Xaragua) the first level

administrative division Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

of the country and making Haiti a

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

of four states instead of a

unitary republic A unitary state is a sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create (or abolish) administrative divisions (sub-national units). Such units exercise only t ...

References

External links