HAITI - République d'Haïti / Repiblik Ayiti

Haiti (French: Haïti [a.iti]; Haitian Creole: Ayiti), officially the Republic of Haiti (French: République d'Haïti; Haitian Creole: Repiblik D Ayiti) and formerly called Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, to the east of Cuba and Jamaica and south of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island which it shares with the Dominican Republic. To its south-west lies the small island of Navassa Island, which is claimed by Haiti but is disputed as a United States territory under federal administration. Haiti is 27,750 square kilometers (10,714 sq mi) in size.

The name Haiti (or Hayti) comes from the indigenous Taíno language which was the native name given to the entire island of Hispaniola to mean, "land of high mountains." The h is silent in French and the ï in Haïti has a diacritical mark used to show that the second vowel is pronounced separately, as in the word naïve. In English, this rule for the pronunciation is often disregarded, thus the spelling Haiti is used. There are different anglicizations for its pronunciation such as HIGH-ti, high-EE-ti and haa-EE-ti, which are still in use, but HAY-ti is the most widespread and best-established. The name was restored by Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines as the official name of independent Saint-Domingue, as a tribute to the Amerindian predecessors.In French, Haiti's nickname is the "Pearl of the Antilles" (La Perle des Antilles) because of both its natural beauty, and the amount of wealth it accumulated for the Kingdom of France; during the 18th century the colony was the world's leading producer of sugar and coffee.

Most mammal species are not native, having being brought to the island since colonial times. However there are various native bat species, as well as the endemic Hispaniolan hutia and Hispaniolan solenodon. Various whale and dolphin species can also be found off Haiti's coast. There are over 260 species of bird, 31 of these being endemic to Hispaniola. Notable endemic species include the Hispaniola trogon, Hispaniola parakeet, grey-crowned tanager and the Hispaniola Amazon. There are also several raptor species, as well as pelicans, ibis, hummingbirds and ducks. Reptiles are common, with species such as the rhinoceros iguana, Haitian boa, American crocodile and gecko. John James Audubon – ornithologist and painter; born in 1785 in Les Cayes, Saint-Domingue; his parents returned to France, where he was educated; emigrated to the United States as a young man and made a career as he painted, catalogued and described the birds of North America.

The first stamp of Haiti was issued in 1881 in the 1c value. It showed the head of Liberty. Haiti issued a number of thematic stamps, But After the earth quake in 2000, the economy of the country totally collapsed. The mail services became very expensive, and shortage of stamps also experienced. The postage to international is 300 Gourde, but only 20Gourde value stamps are available in the post office. So the letter will be getting too many stamps affixed on top of one another. The philatelic services also closed, and no new stamps issued after 2009.

Haiti is one among the rarest country for philatelists. After the terrific earthquake, all major post offices and networks were destroyed and the postal service became too much expensive. It was 10 Gourde to India before the earthquake, now it is 300 Gourde ( approx 15$) . Only the post office in Airport is working well, and no registered service too. Sadly they do not have high value stamps or franking machine, so affixing large number of small value stamps on top of one another. The highest value stamp available is 20 Gourde. The cover posted by my very good friend Gaby from Port au-Prince, capital city of Haiti on Jan 18, 2017 But not arrived. So I sent again with few envelopes via DHL, luckily came back them safely. Haiti was my last missing country in my cover collection, Now I reached in the finishing point with the winner's flag. Thank You Gaby and Denise for the great gift.