The astonishing history of Ayiti has been wrought with tragedy & tribulation as well as many triumphs. Notwithstanding the assertion that the Columbian Exchange & Atlantic Slave Trade were to blame for the numerous trials suffered by Haiti's people, Her truest story likely belonged to the oral traditions of the indigenous peoples previous to exploitation. However, our known history began with the records of Christopher Columbus.
Upon the arrival of explorers, the island of Ayiti was struck with an unrelenting appetite for gold-seeking and egocentric religious superiority on behalf of the newcomers. Rather swiftly, the story of the native Taíno was all but erased. An innocent land once free & naïve of Western governance had soon become embroiled in a practice of human trafficking and the trade of cash crops throughout the "civilized" world. For three-hundred years, extreme disparity beset the lives of the enslaved from near & far who once lived in relative peace. In a crescendo of social & political distress, Haiti finally found Her reckoning in the 19
th
century with bloody rebellion. Persistent struggle followed for centuries while the inhabitants strove to establish a better quality of life for themselves in a scarcely surviving economy. Then suddenly, as if She hadn't sustained enough difficulties throughout such a turbulent past, Haiti sustained more dreadful catastrophes which claimed the lives of so many. In the wake of the 2010 earthquake and successive hurricanes, history has shed its light upon Ayiti's past once again.