From the late 1400s through the late 1600s, the Spanish controlled the island of Hispanola, the site of modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic. French pirates began to inhabit the western side of Hispanola, also called Santo Domingo in Spanish or Saint-Domingue in French. In 1697 the Treaty of Ryswick led to Spain’s ceding of the western third of the island to the French.

Hurricane Matthew was a category 4 storm that violently struck parts of Haiti on 4 October and resulted in the largest humanitarian emergency since the 2010 earthquake. caused a catastrophic amount of damage to Haiti’s infrastructure and agricultural industry, it caused extensive flooding and mudslides, damage to road infrastructure and buildings, and electricity and water shortages. As of 14 October 2016, the Directorate of Civil Protection (CPD) of Haiti had confirmed 546 deaths, 438 injuries and 128 people missing

In 2008, series of four hurricanes and tropical storms struck Haiti during a two-month period. Throughout August and September of 2008, Haiti was repeatedly hit by a number of tropical storms and hurricanes. Each time one hit, it compounded the damage left by the previous one.