Ouest (department)
Ouest (, ) is one of the ten departments of Haiti. It is the jurisdictional seat of the national capital, the city of Port-au-Prince. It has an area of and a population of 4,029,705 (2015 Estimate). It borders the Dominican Republic to the east. It is the second largest department in Haiti after Artibonite. Gonâve Island is also part of the Ouest department. The department's stretch of coastline lies entirely in the Gulf of Gonâve. Administrative divisions. The Department of Ouest is subdivided into five arrondissements, which are further subdivided into twenty communes. History. Around 1772, Romaine -la-Prophétesse acquired a plantation named Trou Coffy in the department (likely in what is now Fondwa), becoming a prominent coffee grower and trader. In 1791 and 1792, during the early Haitian Revolution, Romaine led some thirteen thousand slaves and rebels in freeing slaves from and burning the provinces plantations and briefly controlling two major cities, Léogâne and Jacmel. 2010 7.0 earthquake. On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck in the department, the largest in Haiti in two centuries. In the Port-au-Prince Arrondissement, many areas suffered damage. In the Léogâne Arrondissement, the city of Léogâne suffered  80-90% destruction. Other places in Léogâne were also affected. Economy. Absolute poverty levels in the Ouest department are the lowest in the country.