2019-10-04 Fri

Haiti is a Caribbean country that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic to its east. The region was originally inhabited by the indigenous Taino people. Spain landed on the island on 5 December 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic. When Columbus initially landed in Haiti, he had thought he had found India or China. The island was named La Espanola and claimed by Spain, which ruled until the early 17th century.

Haiti has a rich and unique cultural identity, consisting of a melange of traditional customs of French and African, mixed with those from the Spanish and indigenous Taino cultures. Haiti's culture is greatly reflected in its paintings, music, literature and obviously through their currency!

The gourde is the currency of Haiti and it is divided into 100 centimes (French) or santim (Creole). The governments of Haiti issued paper money in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 gourdes. The banknote depicted in the image alongside is 1 Gourde banknote issued in 1987. The note specifications are as follows:

Obverse: depicts the Leader of the Haitian Revolution, Francois-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture in centre.
Reverse: features the Coat of Arms of Haiti (canons, flags, drum, anchor, soufflets, trumpet, palm tree with with Phrygian cap) in centre.

Image Courtesy: PicClick