Cap-Haïtien
Founded 1670 as colonial capital, birthplace of Haiti's revolution at Bois Caïman (1791), home to the Citadelle's 365 cannons—now functions as Haiti's refugia while Port-au-Prince collapses to gang rule.
When Port-au-Prince's airport closed in November 2024 after gangs shot three aircraft, all international flights diverted to Cap-Haïtien. Haiti's second city became, once again, what it was designed to be: the backup capital when the primary fails.
The French founded Cap-Français in 1670 for a dozen adventurers under Bertrand d'Ogeron. Within four decades, it became capital of Saint-Domingue, the colony that would supply 40% of Europe's sugar and 60% of its coffee. By 1789, the northern plains held 170,000 people—the overwhelming majority enslaved workers whose labor made Cap-Français the 'Paris of the Antilles.' Two-thirds of the city's 15,000 residents were enslaved; the remaining third split between colonists and free people of colour.
On August 14, 1791, at Bois Caïman—literally 'Crocodile Woods'—the enslaved leader Dutty Boukman held a Vodou ceremony that catalyzed the Haitian Revolution. Eight nights later, 1,800 plantations burned. Twelve years later, the final battle occurred nearby at Vertières, where Dessalines defeated General Rochambeau and Cap-Français became Cap-Haïtien. Henri Christophe then made it capital of his northern Kingdom of Haiti (1811-1820), commissioning the Citadelle Laferrière—the largest fortress in the Americas, armed with 365 captured cannons, built atop a 900-meter peak by 20,000 workers at the cost of 20,000 lives. Christophe died in his palace and was buried in his fortress.
The refugia pattern persists. Cap-Haïtien now functions as Haiti's safety margin—its port operates normally while Port-au-Prince remains 90% gang-controlled in what has become an alternative stable state. The city's 190,000 residents maintain relative stability. In ecology, refugia are areas where populations survive environmental collapse, preserving the diversity needed to recolonize when conditions improve. Cap-Haïtien plays that role for Haiti's state institutions: concentrating here because they can still function here.
But refugia have carrying capacity limits. Viv Ansanm cells patrol the coastal road through Borgne. Every refugee from the capital adds pressure. The biological logic applies: when a refugium becomes the last viable habitat, the entire surviving population concentrates there—then the refugium itself becomes the target. Cap-Haïtien isn't just Haiti's backup capital. It's the last test of whether the state survives at all.