Les Cayes, the port city in southern Haiti rocked early Saturday by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, has a colorful and tragic history.
The city, also known as Cayes and Aux Cayes, has a population of more than 125,000 people, according to World Population Review.
The quake, which might have been more powerful than a deadly 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people in Port-au-Prince, has killed hundreds and caused massive damage across southern and western Haiti.
Damage has been reported in Les Cayes, which lies on the southern Caribbean shore of the nation’s southern peninsula.
The city is southern Haiti’s major port, exporting sugar, coffee, bananas, cotton, timber, dyewood and hides, according to Brittanica.com.
The region also is a major exporter of vetiver, used in perfumes, producing half the world’s supply, The Guardian reported in 2014.
The plant’s roots contain “essential oil with a mysterious dry fragrance akin to smoked wood, which Haitians call the ‘essence of tranquillity,’” according to the publication.
Founded in 1786, Les Cayes faced early struggles with pirates and disease. Simon Bolivar visited the port in 1815 to accept Haitian arms and troops, Brittanica.com reported.
Badly damaged by a 1908 fire and a 1954 hurricane, Les Cayes also was the site of a 1929 massacre when U.S. Marines fired on 15,000 Haitians protesting poor economic conditions, according to the site.
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