page_title: Port-au-Prince
section_title: Foundation of Port-au-Prince
hierarchical_section_title: Port-au-Prince / History / Foundation of Port-au-Prince
caption_attribution_description: Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
context_page_description: Port-au-Prince is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,310 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is defined by the IHSI as including the communes of Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Cite Soleil, Tabarre, Carrefour, and Pétion-Ville.
  The city of Port-au-Prince is on the Gulf of Gonâve: the bay on which the city lies, which acts as a natural harbor, has sustained economic activity since the civilizations of the Arawaks. It was first incorporated under French colonial rule in 1749. The city's layout is similar to that of an amphitheatre; commercial districts are near the water, while residential neighborhoods are located on the hills above. Its population is difficult to ascertain due to the rapid growth of slums in the hillsides above the city; however, recent estimates place the metropolitan area's population at around 3.7 million, nearly half of the country's national population. The city was catastrophically affected by a devastating earthquake in 2010, with large numbers of structures damaged or destroyed. Haiti's government estimated the death toll to be 230,000.
context_section_description: In 1770, Port-au-Prince replaced Cap-Français (the modern Cap-Haïtien) as capital of the colony of Saint-Domingue.
  In November 1791, it was burned in a battle between attacking black revolutionists and defending white plantation owners.
  It was captured by British troops on June 4, 1794.
  In 1804, it became the capital of newly independent Haïti. When Jean-Jacques Dessalines was assassinated in 1806, Port-au-Prince became the capital of the mulatto-dominated south (Cap-Haïtien was the capital of the black-dominated north). It was re-established as the capital of all of Haiti when the country was unified again in 1820.
caption: Port-au-Prince, 1920
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