Haiti promised much as the world's first black-led republic and the first Caribbean state to achieve independence. But decades of poverty, environmental degradation, violence, instability and dictatorship have left it as the poorest nation in the Americas. A mostly mountainous country with a tropical climate, Haiti's location, history and culture - epitomized by voodoo, with its music, drumming and dancing - once made it a potential tourist hot spot. (Source: BBC)
Haiti promised much as the world's first black-led republic and the first Caribbean state to achieve independence. But decades of poverty, environmental degradation, violence, instability and dictatorship have left it as the poorest nation in the Americas. A mostly mountainous country with a tropical climate, Haiti's location, history and culture - epitomized by voodoo, with its music, drumming and dancing - once made it a potential tourist hot spot. (