Place · city

Gonaïves

Gonaïves is a port city on the west coast of Haiti, the capital of the Artibonite department. On 1 January 1804 Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed the independence of Haiti there, and it is known as the City of Independence. It has often been the starting point of Haitian uprisings, including the revolts against Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1985 and Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, and it was devastated by floods in 2004 and 2008.

Gonaïves
Image: Fernandolouverture · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

First Empire of Haiti

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Gonaïves. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gonaives
MLA
“Gonaïves.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gonaives. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Gonaïves.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gonaives.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Gonaïves’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gonaives (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻