Ile à Vache
| Ile à Vache | ||
|---|---|---|
| Waters | Caribbean Sea | |
| Archipelago | Greater Antilles | |
| Geographical location | 18 ° 4 ′ N , 73 ° 38 ′ W | |
|
||
| length | 17.7 km | |
| width | 4.8 km | |
| surface | 52 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 150 m | |
| Residents | 15,000 (2004) 288 inhabitants / km² |
|
| main place | Ville de l'Île-à-Vache | |
 |
||
The Île à Vache , Creole : Lilavach , is an island of Haiti ten kilometers off the south coast and the city of Les Cayes in the Caribbean Sea .
geography
The island is almost 18 km long, up to 4.8 km wide, has an area of 52 km² and belongs to the Sud department . The country's nature is varied and tropical. The west side of the island is hilly, highest elevation 150 m, with a few swamps in the lowlands. The east side is swampy with the largest mangrove forest in Haiti and a lagoon formed by the offshore coral reef .
population
Most of the 15,000 or so natives are descendants of slaves imported from Africa by the Spanish and French . The religious orientation is often a symbiosis of Christian and Voodoo traditions. There are two resorts for tourists.
administration
The Île à Vache forms a municipality ( commune ) in the Arrondissement Les Cayes des Départements Sud (South) of Haiti. It is not further subdivided into sections communales . The main town is Ville de l'Île-à-Vache.
history
The original Indian name of the island is Abaca . The Spanish conquerors called it Isla Vaca (Cow Island).
The buccaneers Henry Morgan and Laurent de Graff worked from here in the 17th century .
During the American Civil War , the island owner Bernard Kock offered the settlement of freed slaves from the United States. Despite support from Abraham Lincoln , the project failed within a short time.
Individual evidence
- ↑ SECTIONS COMMUNALES ET COMMUNES D'HAÏTI PAR DEPARTEMENT ( Memento of July 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 468 kB)
- ↑ jfjpm-genie-civil.blogspot.com: Le Coin de Pierre - Génie civil: Haiti: délimitation des départements, des communes et des sections communales , accessed on May 8, 2011
- ^ Noms geographiques des zones d'Haïti
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from June 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Île à Vache on kakokfoundation.org (English)
- ile-a-vache.com (Creole, French, English)
- Slide show, 3:41 min.