Petit-Goâve () is a coastal commune in the Léogâne Arrondissement in the Ouest department 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 located southwest of

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

. The town has a population of approximately 12,000 inhabitants.

History

The town is one of the oldest cities of the country, and was named ''Goâve'' by the

Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

s. The Spanish called it ''Aguava'' at the end of the 16th century. After French colonization through the releasing of the Spanish, the French divided the city into two halves;

Grand-Goâve Grand Goâve () is a commune in the Léogâne Arrondissement in the Ouest department of southwestern Haiti. The Rivière de Grand Goâve passes to the east of the town. It is bridged by National Route No. 2 to the south and forded by Rue To ...

and Petit-Goâve. Petit-Goâve became a wealthy settlement and briefly functioned as a de facto capital of the prosperous 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 ...

. It is also very famous for its sweet candy called ''dous makòs''.

January 2010 earthquake

The town was significantly affected by the 12 January 2010 earthquake. On 20 January a strong aftershock of magnitude 5.9 M_w struck Haiti. The

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

reported that its epicenter was almost exactly under Petit-Goâve. The magnitude of the aftershock was initially reported as 6.1 by the USGS, but was later revised to 5.9. On the 19th, authorized by the Haitian government, 1300

US Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

were deployed equally between Petit-Goâve and Grand-Goâve. Spanish amphibious assault ship '' Castilla'' is to arrive at Petit-Goâve beginning in February to assist in recovery efforts. By 9 February 2010, the US 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit was rotating out of Haiti, having been replaced by the US

22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (22nd MEU) is one of seven Marine expeditionary unit, such units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. It is a Marine Air Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 personnel. They are ...

, in their position on and Carrefour,

Léogâne Léogâne (; ) is one of the coastal communes in Haiti. It is located in the eponymous Léogâne Arrondissement, which is part of the Ouest Department. The port town is located about west of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Léogâne has ...

, Petit-Goâve, and Grand-Goâve. Aid For Haiti (AFH), a US-based non-profit has been coordinating some of the local medical care in the area of Petit-Goâve. They are located at the Wesleyan Compound in Petit-Goâve. The 400th episode of the radio program ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is ...

'', which aired in February 2010, featured a story on College Harry Brakeman, a school in Petit-Goâve, and estimated 1,000 people died due to the earthquake.

Notables

* Laurens de Graaf (d. 1704), Dutch pirate and privateer captain in French service, based in Petit-Goâve during French colonial rule * Anne Dieu-le-Veut (1661 - 1710), female

Buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateer or free sailors, and pirates particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 u ...

and wife to Laurens de Graaf *

Dany Laferrière Dany Laferrière (; born Windsor Klébert Laferrière, 13 April 1953) is a writer and filmmaker. He was elected to seat 2 of the Académie française on 12 December 2013, and inducted in May 2015. Born in Haiti, he lives between Montreal and P ...

, Haitian-Canadian writer * Faustin Elie Soulouque (Faustin I), President of Haiti (1847–1849), Emperor of Haiti (1849–1859)

Facilities

Petit-Goâve has a hospital, ''Notre-Dame de Petit-Goâve''. In February 2010, this hospital was largely unusable due to damage from the earthquake. The

Norwegian Red Cross The Norwegian Red Cross (''Norges Røde Kors'') was founded on 22 September 1865 by prime minister Frederik Stang. In 1895 the Norwegian Red Cross began educating nurses, and in 1907 the Norwegian Ministry of Defence authorized the organization ...

ERU (Emergency Response Unit) has established their field hospital in the hospital and runs 2 fully equipped Operation Theaters and 2 ambulances with paramedics. Norwegian Red Cross support the hospital with electrical power, medical equipment and medicine. On February 15, 2013, the US State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced that it would be funding and building a 150-bed prison in Petit-Goâve to replace the one destroyed in 2004 after the ouster of President

Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide (; born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president in 1991 before being deposed in a coup d'état. As a priest, he taught liberation theo ...

Pictures

File:Petit-Goâve 1981 (Flickr).jpg, The town of Petit-Goâve in 1981 File:Street scene in Petit-Goâve 2018 2.jpg, Street scene in Petit-Goâve File:Landscape in Palmes, Petit-Goâve, Haiti, 2018 2.jpg, Landscape in Les Palmes File:Catholic Church in Delatte, Petit-Goâve, Haiti.jpg, A catholic church in the village of Delatte File:Market in Delatte, Petit-Goâve, Haiti, 2017.jpg, A market in Delatte

References

External links

Petit-Goâve 350 Development
* Reuters

2 March 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Petit-Goave Pirate dens and locations Populated places in Ouest (department) Communes of Haiti Port cities in the Caribbean