It's a big world. The two countries of Haiti and Dominica, both on the island of Haiti, are predominantly black, one predominantly white, one poor and one rich. So, how did these two countries come to be? Why is it so?
The island of Haiti, also known as Hispaniola, is the second largest island in the Caribbean. The island covers an area of 76,480 square kilometers and has a population of about 21.5 million. It belongs to Haiti and Dominica. In December 1492, Columbus first discovered the Indian island and named it Spanish Island. In 1502, the Spanish island officially became a Spanish colony, named Santo Domingo, and a large number of white immigrants began the colonization of the island. In the 16th century, Spain had established as many as 15 cities here, and its economy and trade were prosperous. Unfortunately, a smallpox outbreak brought by Europeans on the island soon afterward, basically extinct more than one million indigenous Taino people on the island, and Spain abandoned the island.
At the end of the 16th century, rampant pirates occupied the northern part of the island, and Spain ceded two-thirds of the eastern part of the island to France. In 1791, black slaves revolted, and in 1802 the Republic of Haiti was founded. Soon after, the predominantly white colonists tried to incorporate the United States, but failed, so in 1844 they became an independent state called the Dominican Republic.
In the more than two hundred years of development of the People's Republic of China, Haiti has mainly developed planting and raw material export industries due to the restrictions of mountainous terrain. Among them, the coffee industry is famous in the world, especially the coffee cultivation here is natural and pollution-free, and many famous coffee brands are raw materials from Haiti. However, the region's crude plantation industry and lack of industrial base, combined with resource depletion, environmental damage and political instability, make Haiti one of the poorest countries in the world.
At the same time, the Dominican Republic, which is also on the island, is very different from Haiti, the white people of the island inherited most of the cities and industrial facilities of the colonial period, the development of industry promoted tourism and plantation progress, the most famous city of Santo Domingo occupies most of the island's industrial production, textile factories, sugar factories, food and beverage processing plants, glass factories and other light industries have been greatly developed. In addition, some heavy industries such as cement, oil refining, and shipbuilding have also developed. As a result, Haiti's economy is not the same as that of Dominica, and the standard of living of its inhabitants is very different.
In addition to the geographical and natural environment factors and the influence of inherited heritage, there are two important factors, one is the serious damage to the ecological environment in predominantly black Haiti, and the extremely serious soil erosion, resulting in floods and mudslides in Haiti all year round. Second, political corruption and autocracy, and the change of leaders, have caused political chaos in the country, the political situation is seriously unstable, and the country's economy is not only difficult to develop steadily, but also deteriorates day by day. Dominica, on the other hand, is not in these problems, and the ecological environment is well preserved and very politically open, so the country is stable, the economy is developing rapidly, and the people are prosperous.