Haiti's disastrous history in pictures

Late 1700s: Pierre Dominique Toussaint-l'Ouverture, black revolutionary leader and liberator of Haiti. The former slave eventually dies in prison in France for his stance against slavery Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Photograph: Hulton Archive/guardian.co.uk 1908: The president, Alexis Nord, is shown covered with a French flag during the revolution in Haiti Photograph: Collection Roger-Viollet/AFP Photograph: Collection Roger-Viollet/guardian.co.uk 1950s: A woman in a trance at a voodoo ceremony. Amid hypnotic chants and drumming, the men on either side – who are assistants to the houngan (high priest) – help to guide the woman through the unseen world Photograph: Bradley Smith/Corbis Photograph: Bradley Smith/guardian.co.uk 1962: The autocratic president François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier seated on the centre of a reviewing dais, surrounded by members of his government and the Haitian military Photograph: Robert Lerner/Getty Images Photograph: Robert Lerner/guardian.co.uk 1975: Jean-Claude Duvalier ('Baby Doc') takes over the presidency in 1971 after his father dies. 'Baby Doc' is eventually overthrown in a popular uprising in 1986 Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis Photograph: guardian.co.uk 1986: Haitians dance in the street in front of the National Palace in Port-au-Prince to celebrate the flight into exile of the dictator Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier Photograph: Lynne Slady/Bettmann/Corbis Photograph: Lynne Slady/guardian.co.uk 1995: A girl cries after someone stole the rubbish she had scavenged at the city dump in Port-au-Prince. Food and clothing remain scarce and expensive despite Haiti's occupation by US troops and the return of the formerly exiled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide Photograph: Daniel Morel/AP Photograph: Daniel Morel/guardian.co.uk 2001: Jean-Bertand Aristide acknowledges applause after being sworn in as president, having run virtually unopposed in November 2000 elections Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/guardian.co.uk 2004: The body of a young man lies on the pavement in Bel-Air, an impoverished neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. Three are killed when gunfire erupts in a stronghold of Jean-Bertrand Aristide after he is ousted for a second time Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/AP Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/guardian.co.uk 2004: A bus filled with Haitian people makes its way south on a flooded road near the north-eastern town of Gonaives after floods inundate the city and its surroundings. Thousands of homes are destroyed and about a quarter of a million people are estimated to have been affected by the effects of hurricane Jeanne Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/guardian.co.uk 2004: Haitians reach for cans of food thrown from the back of a container filled with aid in Gonaives, five days after floods inundated the city and its surrounds Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/guardian.co.uk 2004: Mud cakes – which are actually eaten – being made in Cite Soleil, one of the poorest slum areas of Port-au-Prince. They are sometimes the only food available for the poor Photograph: David Levene Photograph: guardian.co.uk 2006: A Haitian policeman appeals to a crowd trying to enter a polling station in Port-au-Prince. Polls are swamped as voters decide who will replace the ousted president, Jean Bertrand Aristide Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Photograph: Joe Raedle/guardian.co.uk 2006: A voodoo believer carries a botle of rum during a ceremony at La Plaine du Nord. For weeks pilgrims from all over Haiti descend on the town for annual voodoo ceremonies celebrating spiritual traditions brought to the island by slaves from West Africa Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/AP Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/guardian.co.uk 2006: At sunrise, a Haitian man walks with empty jugs to get water alongside an open sewer canal in the Cite Soleil slum of Port-au-Prince Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP Photograph: Brennan Linsley/guardian.co.uk 2007: Refugees line up to get food and supplies from UN peacekeepers at a school in the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince. Floodwaters and mudslides spawned by tropical storm Noel killed at least 48 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/AP Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/guardian.co.uk 2008: Pilgrims bathe and pray in the waterfall at Saut D'eau. In one of the first of the major pilgrimages of the season, both voodoo and Catholic people flock here in their thousands to pray for help and good fortune Photograph: David Levene Photograph: guardian.co.uk 2008: An aerial view of the flooded area of Gonaives after tropical storm Hanna, which swirled over Haiti for four days, leaving at least 61 dead Photograph: Marco Dormino/AP Photograph: Marco Dormino/guardian.co.uk 2008: A man walks past a burning barricade during an anti-government demonstration in Port-au-Prince. Protesters angered by high food prices flooded into the streets, forcing businesses and schools to close as unrest spread from the countryside Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/AP Photograph: Ariana Cubillos/guardian.co.uk 2010: An injured child receives medical treatment after an earthquake in Port-au-Prince. The 7.0 magnitude quake killed thousands as it crumpled the presidential palace and hillside shanties alike, leaving the nation appealing for international help Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/guardian.co.uk 2010: Bodies in front of the morgue at Port-au-Prince general hospital, two days after the earthquake Photograph: Logan Abassi/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Logan Abassi/guardian.co.uk