Môle-Saint-Nicolas (; or ) is a
commune in the north-western coast of
Haiti
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
. It is the chief town of the
Môle-Saint-Nicolas Arrondissement in the
department of
Nord-Ouest.
History
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
' first voyage to the
Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
landed at the site of what is now Môle-Saint-Nicolas on December 6, 1492. The town received its present name after
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
gained control of the western part of
Hispaniola
Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...
in 1697. Vestiges of colonial forts can be found in several locations: Batteries de Vallières, Fort Georges, Saint-Charles, La Poudrière, Le Fort Allemand, Les Ramparts. Ruine Poudrière is an old
magazine
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
built sometime in the 1750s.
In 1764, after the
Grand Dérangement had exiled thousands of
Acadians
The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French colonial empire, French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern Americ ...
from their northern homelands, there was an attempt by French authorities to settle them at Môle-Saint-Nicolas, to shore up France's most lucrative colony of
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...
and build a base that could be used by the
French Navy
The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
. It was a disaster, thanks to disease and shortages of food; a visiting French official reported: "The greatest criminal would have preferred the Galleys to a torture session in this plague-stricken place." Within a year, a reported 420 of the 700 Acadian settlers were dead, and most of the survivors
fled to Louisiana shortly thereafter.
In the summer of 1889
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...
was appointed minister to Haiti by the Harrison administration. Instructions to Douglass included the encouragement of the acquisition of Môle-Saint-Nicolas for use as a U.S. naval coaling station for the American fleet. Douglass attempted to secure access to the site through a lease, presenting arguments emphasizing the mutual benefits to trade and the legitimization of Haitian sovereignty to the American public and administration. Any negotiations were scuttled by the intervention of the
U.S. Navy (Secretary Blaine) and New York businessmen
William P. Clyde, who wished to establish monopoly steamship access to Haitian ports. Admiral
Bancroft Gheradi was sent to "assist" in the negotiations and arrived in an American battleship in the harbor at Port-au-Prince, followed by additional warships arriving at other Haitian ports. Fiercely proud of their revolutionary heritage and national sovereignty, the Haitians were appalled by Gheradi's attitude and statements ("it was the destiny of the Môle to belong to the United States") and by Clyde's insistence that his company should have exclusive control of all Haitian commercial shipping.As a result the Haitians refused any control of the Môle or ports to the Americans. Douglass was attacked for his "failure" to secure the Môle, and finally resigned his position as a result of the military threats.The U.S. backed down from the confrontation, and seven years later secured Guantanomo Bay as a Naval base in the region.
Demographics
Môle-Saint-Nicolas has a population of about 4,000 people, with another 20,000 spread throughout the rural areas nearby. The town has running water from a
run-of-river
Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amou ...
channel constructed in the 1970s, which feeds a
reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation.
Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
above the town and is distributed via
PVC pipes to spigots throughout the town.
Economy
Local fishing is a major industry in this part of the country. The production and distribution of wood charcoal is another major industry of the local people. There is a port for transporting charcoal to larger cities that utilizes wooden sailing vessels to transport the major fuel for cooking in Haiti. Charcoal production has devastated the original forest that once covered this area. The landscape surrounding Mole looks more like the high desert of Arizona than a lush tropical island that was first described to Europeans by Christopher Columbus. Tourism is still a growing sector with its natural beauty of fine white sandy beaches, caves, and wide bay sheltered from the winds, also a clear and bluish sea with corals where multitudes of multicolored fish live and an exotic and luxuriant panorama. Its streets are traced to cordeau and its colonial vestiges and fine gastronomy are also important.
Transportation
The road network of Haiti has become decrepit, with roads in Nord-Ouest being no exception. However, in Môle-Saint-Nicolas itself, the roads are passable in a sturdy vehicle. There is a dirt airstrip,
Môle-Saint-Nicolas Airport, to the north of the town which is serviced by two airlines: Mission Aviation Fellowship and
Sunrise Airways
Sunrise Airways S.A. is a Haitian regional airline founded in 2010 that provides scheduled passenger and charter flights. , the airline flies to nine domestic and international destinations and has a fleet size of ten.
Sunrise Airways expanded i ...
.
Health
A medical clinic in the town has been staffed by
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
n volunteer doctors from a private university, since the end of 2006.
Image:Ruine Poudriere.jpg, Ruine Poudrière, an 18th-century French magazine
Image:Mole_Fishermen.JPG, Fishermen off of Môle-Saint-Nicolas
See also
*
Môle Saint-Nicolas affair
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mole-Saint-Nicolas
Populated places in Nord-Ouest (department)
Communes of Haiti