Haiti: Physical Geography

Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, sharing its eastern border with the Dominican Republic and facing Cuba across the Windward Passage to the northwest. The country covers roughly 27,750 square kilometers (10,710 square miles) and is defined by a rugged, mountainous terrain: more than three-fourths of its territory lies above 700 feet (210 meters) in elevation. Two long, narrow peninsulas extend from the mainland and enclose the Gulf of Gonâve, giving the country its distinctive crab-claw outline.

The island's interior is organized around several mountain ranges running roughly parallel to the coast, including the Massif du Nord in the north and the Chaîne de la Selle in the south, which contains Haiti's highest point, Pic la Selle, at 2,680 meters (8,793 feet). Between these ranges lie fertile lowlands such as the Plaine de l'Artibonite and the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac, the latter a depression holding Étang Saumâtre, Haiti's largest lake, a saline body of water. The Artibonite is the country's longest river, draining into the Gulf of Gonâve.

Haiti's coastline extends about 1,771 kilometers (1,100 miles) and includes several offshore islands, among them Île de la Gonâve, the largest, and Tortuga off the northwest coast. The climate is predominantly tropical, though the mountains create drier, semiarid pockets by blocking the trade winds, and the southern peninsula lies within the Atlantic hurricane belt, which brings seasonal storm risk between June and October.