HAITI: A tortured history

The island of Hispaniola was one of the first parts of the new world settled by Europeans. While the Dominican Republic has enjoyed some measure of prosperity, Haiti has remained politically and economically troubled.

1492: Christopher Columbus lands and claims the island of Hispaniola. Forced labor and disease virtually annihilate indigenous Taino-Arawak population within a quarter-century.

1697: France claims the western third of Hispaniola, naming it St. Domingue.

Spain renames the eastern two-thirds Santo Domingo, now the Dominican Republic.

Spain renames the eastern two-thirds Santo Domingo, now the Dominican Republic.

1804: Slaves oust the French and create the world's first independent, black-ruled republic, naming in Hayti, the Taino-Arwak word for "mountainous." 1806: Fearing the slave revolt will spread to the American South, the U.S.

Congress slaps a trade embargo on Haiti that lasts until the Civil War.

1838: France demands reparations of 150 million gold francs to former slave owners in exchange for recognizing Haiti's independence. France later reduces the sum to 90 million francs, equal to $21 billion today. Haiti finishes payments in 1947.

1862: United States formally recognizes Haiti and names abolitionist Frederick Douglass as its consular minister.

1915: President Woodrow Wilson sends the U.S. Marines to Haiti. The bloody occupation lasts 19 years.

1937: Thousands of Haitians living near the border of the Dominican Republic are massacred by Dominican soldiers under the orders of President Gen. Rafael Trujillo.

1957: Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier is elected president in military-controlled voting.

1964: Duvalier declares himself president for life and forms the infamous, paramilitary tontons macoutes.

1971: Duvalier dies and is succeeded by his 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

1972: The first "boat people" fleeing Haiti land in Florida.

1983: Pope John Paul II visits Haiti and declares publicly that, "Things must change here." 1990: Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a populist, former slum priest, is elected president with 67.5 percent of the vote in Haiti's first democratic election.

1991: Aristide is overthrown in a bloody military coup and takes refuge in the United States.

1994: President Bill Clinton returns Aristide to power with 20,000 Marines.

2000: Aristide is re-elected after one term out of office.

2004: Aristide flees in February amid protests and an armed revolt by members of the disbanded military. He accuses U.S. of forcing him out, which Washington denies. President George W. Bush dispatches 3,000 Marines to keep order, later replace by a Brazilian-led, United Nations peacekeeping force now numbering nearly 8,900. International community taps Gerard Latortue, a Haitian businessman then living in South Florida, as interim prime minister.

2006: René Praval wins the presidential election with 51% of the vote.

2010: A 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocks the Port-au-Prince area.

SOURCES: CIA FACTBOOK, HAITIAN EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES, WIRE REPORTS