Haiti promised much as the world's first black-led republic and the first Caribbean state to achieve independence.
But decades of poverty, environmental degradation, violence, instability and dictatorship have left it as the poorest nation in the Americas.
A mostly mountainous country with a tropical climate, Haiti's location, history and culture - epitomised by voodoo, with its music, drumming and dancing - once made it a potential tourist hot spot. Instability and violence, especially since the 1980s, have all but killed off that prospect.
Overview
Haiti achieved notoriety during the brutal dictatorships of the voodoo physician, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, and his son, Jean-Claude, or "Baby Doc". Tens of thousands of people were killed under their 29-year rule.
Hopes that the election in 1990 of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former priest, would herald a brighter future were dashed when he was overthrown by the military a short time later.
AT-A-GLANCE
Although economic sanctions and US-led military intervention forced a return to constitutional government in 1994, Haiti's fortunes did not pick up, with allegations of electoral irregularities, ongoing extra-judicial killings, torture and brutality.
A bloody rebellion, and pressure from the US and France, forced Mr Aristide out of the country in 2004.
Since then, an elected leadership has taken over from an interim government and a UN stabilisation force has been deployed. But Haiti is still plagued by violent confrontations between rival gangs and political groups and the UN has described the human rights situation as "catastrophic".
Meanwhile, Haiti's most serious underlying social problem, the huge wealth gap between the impoverished Creole-speaking black majority and the French-speaking minority, 1% of whom own nearly half the country's wealth, remains unaddressed.
Many Haitians seek work and a better life in the US or other Caribbean nations, including the neighbouring Dominican Republic, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants.
Furthermore, the infrastructure has all but collapsed and drug trafficking has corrupted the judicial system and the police.
Haiti is ill-equipped to deal with the aftermath of tropical storms. Severe deforestation has left it vulnerable to flooding.
Facts
- Full name: Republic of Haiti
- Population: 9.8 million (UN, 2008)
- Capital: Port-au-Prince
- Area: 27,750 sq km (10,714 sq miles)
- Major languages: Creole, French
- Major religion: Christianity
- Life expectancy: 59 years (men), 63 years (women) (UN)
- Monetary unit: 1 gourde = 100 centimes
- Main exports: Light manufactures, coffee, oils, mangoes
- GNI per capita: US $560 (World Bank, 2007)
- Internet domain: .ht
- International dialling code: +509
Leaders
President: Rene Preval
Rene Preval, often described as a champion of the poor, won presidential elections in February 2006 with 51% of the vote.
He was declared the victor after officials agreed to discount thousands of blank ballot papers. His supporters had taken to the streets, rejecting initial results which would have led to a second round.
Mr Preval, the front-runner, said "massive fraud" was being used to deny him a first-round victory.
Rene Preval is a former president and a one-time ally of Haiti's exiled former leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
He says he wants to tackle social inequalities and to create jobs. In the run-up to his inauguration he visited potential donor countries in pursuit of aid.
Born in Port-au-Prince in 1943, Rene Preval studied in Belgium and lived in the US in the 1970s. He is often portrayed as being shy and softly-spoken. He was president from 1996-2001, between Jean-Bertrand Aristide's first and second terms.
Mr Aristide was Haiti's first democratically-elected president, taking office in 1990 amid great popular support.
Having weathered a bloody military coup and ongoing political and economic crises, he was forced out in February 2004 when opposition to his rule grew increasingly violent.
Now in exile in South Africa, Mr Aristide has promised to return to Haiti and accuses the US of forcing him into exile. Washington denies this.
Prime Minister: Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis
Michele Pierre-Louis was the third person nominated by President Preval to replace dismissed premier Jacques Edouard Alexis, but unlike the previous candidates, her appointment was ratified by parliament. She was sworn in in September 2008.
Described as an "old friend" of President Preval, Ms Pierre-Louis is the second woman prime minister in Haitian history. She was born in October 1947 and trained as an economist. She is the sister-in-law of Father Jean Pierre-Louis, an activist for social justice, who was assassinated in 1998.
In 1995, with the financial backing of US billionaire George Soros, she founded Fokal (Knowledge and Freedom Foundation), an educational and social nongovernmental organization.
She now faces the problem of dealing with soaring food and fuel costs.
Media
Radio is Haiti's most important information medium; access to the press is limited by low literacy levels.
There are more than 250 private radio stations, with around 50 FM broadcasters in the capital alone, providing a full spectrum of political views. But self-censorship is common, with journalists trying to avoid offending commercial sponsors or politicians.
The media rights body Reporters Without Borders said press freedom improved "dramatically" after the fall of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The organisation had put the former president on its list of "predators of press freedom".
But it warned in 2007 that impunity for attacks on media workers could continue in the absence of an effective justice system.
Amid the escalating violence in early 2004, radio and TV stations were targeted by gangs from both sides of the political divide. Studios and transmitters were destroyed.
The press
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