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Petit-Goâve

*Ti Gwav*
Petit-Goâve Ti Gwav
Commune
	View of the town of Petit-Goâve
	Petit-Goâve Location in Haiti
	Coordinates: 18°25′53″N 72°52′1″W / 18.43139°N 72.86694°W
Country	Haiti
Department	Ouest
Arrondissement	Léogâne
Population
• Total	12,000

Petit-Goâve (Haitian Creole: Ti Gwav) is a coastal commune in the Léogâne Arrondissement in the Ouest department of Haiti. It is located 68 kilometres (42 mi) southwest of Port-au-Prince. The town has a population of approximately 12,000 inhabitants.

History

The town is one of the oldest cities of the country, and was named Goâve by the Amerindians. The Spanish called it Aguava at the end of the 16th century. After French colonization through the releasing of the Spanish, the French divided the city into two halves; Grand-Goâve and Petit-Goâve. Petit-Goâve became a wealthy settlement and briefly functioned as a de facto capital of the prosperous colony of Saint-Domingue. It is also very famous for its sweet candy called dous makòs.

January 2010 earthquake

The town was significantly affected by the 12 January 2010 earthquake.^[1] On 20 January a strong aftershock of magnitude 5.9 M_w struck Haiti.^[2] The U.S. Geological Survey reported that its epicenter was almost exactly under Petit-Goâve. The magnitude of the aftershock was initially reported as 6.1 by the USGS, but was later revised to 5.9.^[3]

On the 19th, authorized by the Haitian government, 1300 US Marines were deployed equally between Petit-Goâve and Grand-Goâve.^[4] Spanish amphibious assault ship Castilla is to arrive at Petit-Goâve beginning in February to assist in recovery efforts.^[5]^[6]

By 9 February 2010, the US 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit was rotating out of Haiti, having been replaced by the US 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, in their position on USS Bataan and Carrefour, Léogâne, Petit-Goâve, and Grand-Goâve.^[7]^[8]

Aid For Haiti (AFH), a US-based non-profit has been coordinating some of the local medical care in the area of Petit-Goâve. They are located at the Wesleyan Compound in Petit-Goâve.

The 400th episode of the radio program This American Life, which aired in February 2010, featured a story on College Harry Brakeman, a school in Petit-Goâve, and estimated 1,000 people died due to the earthquake.^[9]

Notables

Laurens de Graaf (d. 1704), Dutch pirate and privateer captain in French service, based in Petit-Goâve during French colonial rule
Anne Dieu-le-Veut (1661 - 1710), female Buccaneer and wife to Laurens de Graaf
Dany Laferrière, Haitian-Canadian writer
Faustin Elie Soulouque (Faustin I), President of Haiti (1847–1849), Emperor of Haiti (1849–1859)

Facilities

Petit-Goâve has a hospital, Notre-Dame de Petit-Goâve.^[10] In February 2010, this hospital was largely unusable due to damage from the earthquake. The Norwegian Red Cross ERU (Emergency Response Unit) has established their field hospital in the hospital and runs 2 fully equipped Operation Theaters and 2 ambulances with paramedics. Norwegian Red Cross support the hospital with electrical power, medical equipment and medicine.

On February 15, 2013, the US State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced that it would be funding and building a 150-bed prison in Petit-Goâve to replace the one destroyed in 2004 after the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide^[11]

Pictures

The town of Petit-Goâve in 1981
Street scene in Petit-Goâve
Landscape in Les Palmes
A catholic church in the village of Delatte
A market in Delatte

References

^ Rentas, Khadijah (15 January 2010). "Outside Port-au-Prince, 'towns are absolutely destroyed'". CNN. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
^ Haven, Paul; Melia, Mike (21 January 2010). "Aftershock drives more from Haitian capital". MPR News. Port-au-Prince. Associated Press. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
^ "Magnitude 6.1 - Haiti Region". 20 January 2010. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
^ Renois, Clarens (19 January 2010). "Les Américains passent à la vitesse supérieure" [The Americans are shifting into higher gear]. Cyberpresse (in French). Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
^ "Le navire-hopital espagnol devrait arriver à Petit-Goave début février" [The Spanish hospital ship should arrive in Petit-Goave in early February]. Journal Ouest-France (in French). 27 January 2010. Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
^ "Spanish Aid Ship Reaches Haiti". Latin American Herald Tribune. 5 February 2010. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
^ "24th Marine Expeditionary Unit Leaving Haiti". WITN-TV. NBC News. 9 February 2010. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
^ "22nd MEU Moves Into Carrefour". DVIDS. 8 February 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
^ "400: Stories Pitched by Our Parents". This American Life. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
^ Nieves, Gema (8 February 2010). "La operación 'Hispaniola', totalmente operativa en Haití". Atenea (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 October 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
^ Daniel, Trenton (15 February 2013). "US plans to build 2 prisons in Haiti's provinces". Miami Herald. Port-au-Prince. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 17 February 2013.