Citadelle Laferrière

The largest fortress in the Americas, built on a peak of about 900 m after independence to guard against a French return.

It was ordered by Henri Christophe, a leader of the Haitian Revolution, and built between 1805 and 1820 to help the newly independent country defend itself if France tried to return. It is the largest fortress in Haiti and one of the biggest in the New World. UNESCO made it a World Heritage Site in 1982, together with the nearby Sans-Souci Palace.

Why build a fortress on a mountain?

Haiti had been under French rule until 1803, when the Haitians defeated the French. Christophe feared France might come back, so he built a system of forts. The Citadelle stands several kilometres inland, on a peak chosen as an ideal lookout. From its roof you can see the city of Cap-Haïtien and the Atlantic Ocean.

In the end, Napoleon was busy with wars in Europe and never tried to take Haiti back, so the fortress was never needed.

Who built it?

The fortress was built by tens of thousands of former slaves, with up to 20,000 workers at times, and about 10 percent are believed to have died during the work. It was fitted with 365 cannons of different sizes, put together from guns left behind by European forces that had occupied the island.

Today the Citadelle stands as a symbol of Haitian independence. It is one of the few African-derived military fortifications in the New World.

On the globe

The model shows the big stone fortress with thick walls on a mountain peak.