| Port-au-Prince Haiti 2nd Fleet Replenishment Ships .. USS Truckee AO-147 made port here in late October 1971 for a weekend liberty, taking a rest from Guantanamo training. per current records on hand Port-auPrince
is the capital, chief port, and commercial centre of Haiti
and the seat of Ouest departement. It is situated on a magnificent bay
at the
apex of the Gulf of Gonaives,
which is protected from the open sea by the island of Gonave.
The city was laid out in a grid pattern in 1749 by the French called
L'Hopital.
It has suffered frequently from earthquakes (especially in 1751 and 1770), fires, and civil strife. |
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It replaced Cap-Haitien as the capital of the old French colony Saint-Domingue in 1770. In 1807 its port was opened to foreign commerce. Sanitary conditions were improved during U.S. occupation (1915-34). The city's bicentennial was commemorated in 1949 by an international exposition, the site of which is now a palm-fronted promenade. Textile,
cottonseed oil, flour, and sugar mills are located in or near the city,
and, to encourage cattle and horse breeding, the government established
a stock-feeding station in 1959. There are air services to the main
Caribbean islands, Canada, the United States, and Switzerland, and
several luxury hotels have been built. Tourism fluctuates with
political conditions.
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