Taino Period The region of the Great North of Haiti was under the administration of the
Marien casicazgo, the Taino-chief
Guacanagarix was the one to have received
Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to
Hispaniola. Columbus explained how the Taino chief offers him safe harbor after one of his boats sunk. Columbus described the place has Paradise Valley or Valparaiso and named the island
La Isla Española. This department specifically the town of Mole-Saint-Nicolas is believed to be the first place on the island to have received a Christian cross. The Island of
Tortuga was part of the Taino dominion under the name of
Baynei.
French Period The
Spaniards lost interest in the western part of the island leaving it vacant for French, Dutch and British pirates, and buccaneers, making Tortuga one of the biggest
pirates hubs in the Caribbean. Under the French administration, the Nord-Ouest was part of the Ouest department and many
French Governors governed the island from Le Môle.
Haitian Revolution Early on the N-O departement was a strategic point for
Toussaint Louverture, one of the first diplomatic and pre-independence treaty signed between the Indigènes and the British was signed by Toussaint and British Officer
Maitland and thus the Indigènes took controlled of the part of
Saint-Domingue that was under British rules. After
Napoléon sent his troop to capture the Toussaint and put them under French slavery, the Haitian Officer
Maurepas under the order of Toussaint burned down the city of Port-de-Paix and went uphill to Les Trois Pavillons fort. Maurepas was later on captured by the French and they drowned him in the Bay of
Cap-Haitian. Francois Lamort Cappois and the 9th
demi-brigade freed the city of Port-de-Paix and later on the island of Tortuga on April 12, 1803. Le Mole officially became under Haitian control 10 days after the
Battle of Vertières with the help of Vincent Pourcely colonel in the 9th demi-brigade.
Haitian Period Cappoix-Lamort commander of Port-de-Paix is a signatory of the
Haitian Declaration of Independence.
Francois Cappoix the brilliant and vaillaint Haitian officers was trapped by
Henry 1st men and assassinated in
Limonade. The department was in open rebellion with the Crown.
Pétion in the West who needed ally after the rebellion of
Rigaud in the
South and
Goman in the
Grand'Anse, sent troops to support the N-O. Henry 1st crushed the rebellion and granted amnitice to the rebelled troops. The town of
Môle Saint-Nicolas is located in the Nord-Ouest. Ever since Columbus landed here in 1492 and named the island Hispaniola, Môle St-Nicolas has been of interest to the colonials, including the British, Spanish, French, and the Americans due to its strategic location on the Windward Passage, just miles from
Cuba. The
Mole-St-Nicolas affair was a diplomatic incident between the Haitians and the Americans because the Americans wanted a safe harbor to control the Winward Passage after the construction of the Panama Canal. The Haitian intellectual
Anténor Firmin was remarkable in that affair. Sometime during the 19th century, it was created out of the
Nord and
Ouest departments. ==Geography==