2011 January - Former president Jean-Claude Duvalier returns from exile, faces corruption and human rights abuse charges. 2011 March - Michel Martelly wins second round of presidential election. 2011 July - toll from cholera outbreak climbs to nearly 6,000. 2011 October - President Martelly appoints UN development expert Conille as his prime minister, after parliament rejected his two previous nominees. 2012 January - Presidential Martelly proposes reviving Haiti's army, which was disbanded in 1995 because of its role in coups and its history of human rights abuses. 2012 February - Minister Garry Conille resigns in protest at the refusal of many of his ministers and the presidential administration to cooperate with a parliamentary inquiry into dual citizenship among senior officials. 2012 May - Parliament approves Foreign Minister Laurent Lamothe as prime minister. 2012 October - Hundreds protest against the high cost of living and call for the resignation of President Martelly. They accuse the president of corruption and failure to deliver on his promises to alleviate poverty. 2012 November - Hurricane Sandy causes extensive crop damage and leaves at least 20,000 people homeless, exacerbating the cholera epidemic. 2013 May - Thousands of people turn out for ex-president Aristide's first public appearance since his return from exile two years previously. He gives evidence in a court case. 2013 October - Lawyers representing victims of a cholera epidemic in Haiti file a lawsuit against the United Nations at a court in New York. They say UN peacekeepers introduced cholera to Haiti in 2010. 2013 November/December - Street protests in Port-au-Prince and other major cities, with marchers voicing discontent about various issues including an overdue election, unemployment and corruption. 2014 April - New wave of anti-government protests begins in Port-au-Prince. 2014 December - Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe resigns over failure to reach agreement with opposition over delayed elections, amid escalating street protests.
his childhood at Ferry Farm, a plantation near Fredericksburg, Virginia. After Washington’s father died when he was 11, it’s likely he helped his mother manage the plantation. Few details about Washington’s early education are known, although children of prosperous families like his typically were taught at home by private tutors or attended private schools. It’s believed he finished his schooling at around age 15. As a teenager, Washington, who had shown an aptitude for mathematics, became a successful surveyor. His surveying expeditions into the Virginia wilderness earned him enough money to begin acquiring land of his own. In 1751, Washington made his only trip outside of America, when he travelled to Barbados with his older half-brother Lawrence (1718-52), who was suffering from tuberculosis and hoped the warm climate would help him recuperate. Shortly after their arrival, George contracted smallpox. He survived, although the illness left him with permanent facial scars. In 1752, Lawrence died. Washington eventually inherited Lawrence’s estate, Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River near Alexandria, Virginia. An Officer and Gentleman Farmer In December 1752, Washington, who had no previous military experience, was made a commander of the Virginia militia (volunteer army). He saw action in the and was eventually put in charge of all of Virginia’s militia forces. By 1759, Washington had resigned his commission as an officer and returned to Mount Vernon. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses (legislature), where he served until 1774. In January 1759, he married Martha Dandridge Custis (1731-1802), a wealthy widow with two children. Washington became a devoted stepfather to the children. He and Martha never had any children of their own. In the years that followed, Washington expanded Mount Vernon from 2,000 acres into an 8,000-acre property with five farms. He grew a variety of crops, including wheat and corn, bred mules, and maintained fruit orchards and a successful fishery. He was deeply interested in farming and continually experimented with new crops and methods of land conservation. General Washington and the American Revolution By the late 1760s, Washington had experienced firsthand the effects of rising taxes imposed on American colonists by the British, and came to believe that it was in the best interests of the colonists to declare independence from Great Britain. Washington