9781422286296

(Opposite) Haiti’s presidential palace was just one of thousands of build- ings destroyed when a powerful earthquake struck the capital, Port- au-Prince, in January 2010. (Right) Farm fields cover the hillsides of rural Haiti. Many people in the country live off whatever crops they are able to grow. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. 1

Rugged Beauty and Environmental Devastation

A LITTLE LESS THAN 600 miles (966 kilometers) southeast of the southern tip of Florida lies an island called Hispaniola. This island, along with Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, makes up an island chain known as the Greater Antilles , which is one of three island groups in the West Indies . Christopher Columbus discovered Hispaniola, and gave the island its name, in 1492. One legend says that when Columbus returned to Spain, he tried to illustrate the island’s landscape for the king and queen by crumpling up a piece of paper. When he uncrumpled the paper, the bumps and ridges demonstrated the island’s rugged terrain. Columbus was struck by the beauty of Hispaniola. More than 500 years later, however, much of the island has been ravaged by environmentally

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