Capital: Port-au-Prince. Major Cities: Port-au-Prince (917,112
inhabitants), Carrefour (306,074), Delmas (257,247), and Cap-Haïtien
(107,026) are Haiti's only cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
Independence: January 1, 1804, from France. Haiti was the first modern
state governed by people of African descent and the second nation in the
Western Hemisphere to achieve independence. Public Holidays: Haiti
celebrates the following public holidays: Independence Day (January 1),
Ancestors' Day (January 2), Carnival Monday (variable date in February
or March), Mardi Gras (variable date in February or March), Ash
Wednesday (variable date in February or March), Good Friday (variable
date in March or April, Friday before Easter), Easter (variable date in
March or April), Flag Day (May 18), Ascension Day (variable date in May
or June), Corpus Christi Day (variable date in May or June), Assumption
Day (August 15), Dessalines Day (October 17), All Saints' Day (November
1), All Souls' Day (November 2)