Les Cayes

When Dior, Chanel, and Guerlain source the earthy base notes for their most expensive fragrances, the supply chain ends in Les Cayes. The capital of Sud Department and Haiti's third-largest city produces more than half the world's vetiver oil—an aromatic grass root that anchors luxury perfumery—making this port of 150,000 a keystone species in an industry worth tens of millions annually. Like all grasses, vetiver grows from its base rather than its tips; farmers can harvest the roots every three years without killing the plant, creating the renewable income stream that supports over 50,000 families across southern Haiti.

This coastline has drawn settlers for millennia. The Taíno farmed cassava and fished here centuries before Vasco Núñez de Balboa—yes, that Balboa—tried raising pigs in nearby Salvatierra de la Sabana around 1504. The French founded the modern town in 1786 as the capital of Saint-Domingue's southern province. By 1797, Les Cayes counted 702 houses, its eastern district "Little Guinea" housing free people of color while planters built larger homes in the west. The port shipped indigo from the fertile plains that made Saint-Domingue the world's most profitable colony.

In December 1815, Simón Bolívar arrived seeking weapons. Haitian President Alexandre Pétion gave him 4,000 muskets, 15,000 pounds of gunpowder, and soldiers—on condition that Bolívar free the enslaved upon victory. The arms that launched South American independence shipped from these docks. A century later, on December 6, 1929, U.S. Marines fired on 1,500 peasants protesting economic conditions in the Les Cayes Massacre—12 to 22 killed, over 50 wounded.

Vetiver transformed the city's modern economy. Frager Essential Oils, operating here since the early 1900s, runs 48 stills with over 150 employees and remains the world's largest vetiver producer. The fragrance industry that depends on Haiti—Chanel No. 5, Terre d'Hermès, Tom Ford—would lose its foundation if this single supply chain failed.

Disasters keep testing Les Cayes. Hurricane Matthew (October 2016) struck as Category 4 and damaged 90% of buildings. Five years later, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit on August 14, 2021, with the epicenter just 12 kilometers away. The quake killed 2,248 people—1,852 in Sud Department alone—destroyed 60,700 homes, and caused losses totaling $1.6 billion, equivalent to 9.6% of Haiti's GDP.

Les Cayes remains relatively insulated from the gang violence consuming Port-au-Prince—85% of the capital now under gang control. But Viv Ansanm's January 2025 push toward Kenscoff shows the coalition expanding. The perfume counters of Paris depend on roads that machetes from Port-au-Prince could sever tomorrow.