The islands of the Caribbean have a long history of association with the powers of the west, and with European colonizers who have laid claim to most of them almost since the time of their discovery by Columbus in 1492.

One of those former colonies has been recently prostrated by natural disaster, leaving tens of thousands dead and over a million homeless.
The recent tragedy that struck the island of Hispaniola, and specifically the country on its eastern side, Haiti, on Jan. 12, was not the first tragedy to befall the nation. While the Haiti of today struggles to cope with the fallout of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that has leveled its capital, Port-au-Prince, and collapsed already hard-pressed infrastructure, the rest of the world is again focused on the country that holds the dubious distinction of being North America’s most destitute Third World representative right in the middle of our First World affluence.
The island country also has some very interesting, and at times, sad history. But to begin, we’ll come back to Chris and his nearly-mutinous band of merry men.
Columbus thought he had come to the Far East, a short-cut route to the silks and the spices of the Far East. The truth was, for treasure-seekers of the time, much less interesting. The Spanish, for instance, moved on to defeat the ancient and sophisticated Amerindian empires, the Aztecs in modern-day Mexico and the Inca in Peru, where riches in the form of gold and silver were in much greater abundance.
These cultures were ripe for the plucking, and easily felled by a collection of Spanish conquistadors and a few hundred muskets.
 It is interesting to note, perhaps, that the populations of the Caribbean islands are almost totally different than they are today. When Europeans first arrived, virtually all were the home of large populations of natives. European greed through enslavement and diseases would within the stretch of a handful of generations have wiped out almost this entire demographic group, a vanished culture now almost forgotten, supplanted by a vast army of black slaves from Africa brought to the region to work the new European plantations.
For the Europeans had discovered a new, and lucrative, use for the islands by the mid to late 1600s. Sugar cane had become become the new king. For a time, many of the islands, like Martinique, Cuba, Jamaica and Guadeloupe were coveted possessions to be hard-bargained over, chiefly because of  their potential for cash crops. Before the discovery of sugar cane, most European bakers had to use honey as the only available sweetener. Once Europe had realized the potential for cheap and easy-to-produce sugar (on the backs of black slaves, of course) they were able to give the honeybees a rest.
The islands were so valued during the 18th century, for instance, that empires even gave up claims to whole continents just to retain their possession. For example, the French gave up all  claim to the North American continent at the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War (they had been soundly defeated by the British anyway) in exchange for the return of their island possessions, Gaudeloupe and Martinique, rather than take back the cold and snowy wastes of New France (present day-Quebec).
Haiti was one of these collections of French possessions until the early 19th century, but the Napoleonic Wars would put a stop to that. Toussaint L’Overture, a former slave, would lead the slaves in a revolt against their French overlords. Napoleon would send an army of 20,000 to put down the upstarts and reaffirm control, but the embattled emperor got more than he bargained for. Yellow fever struck the French troops, and in a few months most the army had died from the affliction. Although there were military reversals on both sides, the French would eventually throw in the towel, having wasted nearly 50,000 soldiers and 18 generals in its ill-advised attempt to retake the colony.
After independence, things weren’t all rainbows for Haiti. The island suffered a reoccupation attempt in 1825 by King Charles X and was forced to pay a huge indemnity for France to recognize their sovereignty under threat of a French fleet. Internal political instability added to Haiti’s troubles. Finally, in 1915, the U.S. occupied the island, ostensibly to save the Haitians from themselves.
During much of the rest of the 20th century, Haiti suffered under illegitimate dictators once the Americans evacuated the country in 1937 (which gave next-door Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo the opportunity to massacre between 10,000 and 20,000 Haitians).
Dr. Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier ruled the nation with an iron fist from 1957 until his death in 1971, when he was succeeded by his son, who was eventually ousted in 1986. Duvalier made voodoo the official state religion, and founded the Tonton Macoutes, a volunteer organization responsible for many acts of violence against the population.
In 1991, the elected president, Jean-Bertand Aristide was ousted in a military coup, after which the west stepped in to restore democratic government. Since then, the nation has been relatively politically stable, but has suffered under crippling poverty and severe underdevelopment.
This month’s earthquake has only added to the Haitians’ many problems. Their motto is, Unity Creates Strength. If they are to survive this current crisis, it will need to become words to live by.