Explorers Week: Haiti

Haiti was actually our 150th country (I didn't catch my mistake until a country or two later). We did Haiti for explorer's week along with Columbus. Haiti wasn't the first place he landed (that was the Bahamas), but Haiti was the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas. 

On Christmas Eve of 1492, a cabin boy ran the Santa Maria into a coral reef on the northern coast of Hispaniola (Haiti). With the help of some islanders, Columbus' men salvaged what they could from their cargo and built the settlement Villa de la Navidad ("Christmas Town") with lumber from the ship. Thirty-nine men stayed behind to occupy the settlement, while Columbus returned to Spain. 

I probably don't need to write much about Columbus, the most famous of all the explorers. Beyond his 'discovery' of America, most people know about his atrocities against indigenous people. 

 The natives in the Caribbean were actually the Taino people, who had cultivated yuca, sweet potatoes, maize, beans and other crops as their culture flourished, reaching its peak by the time Columbus showed up. They were inventive people who built oceangoing canoes large enough for more than 100 paddlers and played games with a ball made of rubber. They made pottery, wove belts and made carvings from wood, stone, shell and bone. They were friendly people, and open to trade with the sailors, exchanging glass beads, cotton balls, parrots and spears. The Europeans also noticed bits of gold the natives wore for adornment.

The Taíno impressed Columbus with their generosity, and he saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of them. “They will give all that they do possess for anything that is given to them, exchanging things even for bits of broken crockery, They do not carry arms or know them....They should be good servants”, he noted. 

, Columbus was treated like a hero upon his first trip back to Spain. . He exaggerated his travels, and presented some of the things he had found including turkeys, pineapples, and some natives he had captured. The King of Spain were not pleased with the natives he had captured (basically originating the idea of a slave trade), but they were intrigued, and opted to fund future expeditions. 

In total Columbus made four journeys to the Americas. Along with him, he brought horses, wheat, coffee and other European goods.  Known as the Columbian Exchange, Columbus’ expeditions set in motion the widespread transfer of people, plants, animals, diseases, and cultures that greatly affected nearly every society on the planet. 

The horse from Europe eventually allowed Native American tribes in the Great Plains of North America to shift from a nomadic to a hunting lifestyle. Wheat from the Old World fast became a main food source for people in the Americas. Coffee from Africa and sugar cane from Asia became major cash crops for Latin American countries. And foods from the Americas, such as potatoes, tomatoes and corn, became staples for Europeans. 

But, the Exchange also brought new diseases to both hemispheres, though the effects were greatest in the Americas. Smallpox from the Old World decimated millions of the Native American population to mere fractions of their original numbers. This more than any other factor made for European domination of the Americas. 

Eventually Columbus's 'forced labor' treatment, and his brutal, tyrannical leadership got back to the King of Spain. Native islanders who didn’t collect enough gold could have their hands cut off, and rebel Spanish colonists were hung. Spaniards removed men from villages to work in gold mines and colonial plantations.  Columbus was removed as governor and sent back to Spain (he was tried, but ultimately let go). 

Columbus wasn't trying to prove the world was round (most educated people knew by then that it was), he was instead trying to find a faster route to the Spice Islands. History is a little divided on weather or not Columbus thought he had actually made it there. 

The boys made their Columbus Facebook pages. 

For our activity we played a game of hot lava, where we played Natives vs. Explorers. We drew for Natives and Explorers in a 3 to 2 ratio. 

Peyton and I were the Explorers.We got Nerf Guns and all the electronics in the house. The Natives got to hide bags of 'gold' (Explorers could keep them if they found it), and swords. They also had access to the food in the kitchen (and it was lunch time), and Asa was not super nice about trading electronics for a frozen pizza. 

After 20 minutes the Natives had to draw for one of them to die of a disease brought over by the Explorers. Hayden drew the death card, and he was out. 

All in all, I wish my camera actually worked for this one, or that I had my new phone. The whole thing lasted about an hour until I turned on Peyton for a frozen pizza, but I missed, and Peyton killed the rest of the natives with nerf darts. 

Our landmark for Haiti matched up well with Columbus. The Musee du Pantheon is a museum in the capital city of Port Au Prince. The museum claims if has an anchor from the Santa Maria on display (nobody can really confirm or deny it's the actual anchor from the Santa Maria though). 

But the museum has another star, the bell that was rung to announce the nation's independence. That's important for a couple of reasons, but most notably, Haiti is the only country to see a successful slave revolution. It was the first nation to see a slave revolt, and went on to become the world's first black independent republic. 

The revolt was led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, who was also known as the 'Black Napoleon'. The revolution was against the French colonial masters, and led to the elimination of slavery and the founding of the Republic Haiti- the first country to be run by previously enslaved people. 

Some actually say the revolt was one of the reasons Napoleon sold the Louisiana Purchase to Thomas Jefferson. France was about to go to war with Britain and after what had happened in Haiti, they didn't need another revolt of any sort. 

As a result of their successful revolution, Haiti is closest to it's African roots, and has the richest traditions in visual arts, literature and music of all the Caribbean countries. 

Though 96% of the country identifies as Christian, Vodou is often mixed in. Vodou is spelled a bit different than Voodoo to avoid being confused. In Haiti, Vodou is a fusion of West African and Catholic teachings. The supreme being in Vodou is Bondye and individual spirits called Loa. 

On January 12, 2010 Haiti suffered a major 7.0 earthquake. Somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 citizens were killed. Nearly 300,000 buildings were destoryed or damage. The palace, hospitals, and prisons suffered large damage. The school system was said to have totally collapsed. An already financially struggling country wasn't prepared to rebuild an entire nation. 

So, many refugees fleed to the United States of America. Florida took in somewhere around 35,000. Recently, those Haitians have been back in the news as our current administration wants to send them all back by 2019.  We'll see what happens, but our own governor (who I am usually not on the same page with), is asking the Trump administration to let them stay. 

The boys made their Haiti postcards. 

Calib's featured the Haitian flag. 

Peyton's included the brightly colored taxi's called 'Tap-Tap"s meaning 'quick quick'. 

And Hayden's featured a casino, because Haitians enjoy gambling. They're even known to beg the Vodou gods for winning lottery numbers. 

Long ago when we started this project, one of my cashiers at Publix was from Haiti. He suggested we have goat for Haiti day. I wasn't against trying it out, but again- that's pricey! So, instead we went with a much cheaper option. 

Instead we had Haitian Spaghetti, a layered Haitian salad, bread and pineapple. 

This one earned an enthusiastic five spoons up. 

Now some of the Haitian spaghetti recipes call for ketchup and hot dogs. I think I would have liked that decidedly less. We went with tomato paste and sausages. I'm not usually a big pasta fan, but I liked this one. 

The tropical Caribbean salads are almost always popular here, too. This one was pretty par for the course, but we all enjoyed it. 

We colored the Haiti half of Hispaniola (the island made up of Haiti and Dominica Republic) in orange. 

That's 150 countries down, 46 to go! 

Next Up: Spain (Asa FINALLY got to use his paella pan and he was really excited about it!)