Cap-Haïtien, also Le Cap, city and seaport, northern Haiti, capital of Nord Department, on the Manzanillo Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. Cap-Haïtien has a spacious harbor and is an export center for coffee, cocoa, hides, honey, and logwood. In the 17th century the Spaniards built on the site of Cap-Haïtien a settlement that became a French possession in 1697. Under the French, who made it the capital of their colony of Saint-Domingue, it was a flourishing town, referred to as Little Paris. From 1811 to 1820 Cap-Haïtien was the capital of Henri Christophe, king of Haiti, when he ruled northern Haiti. The town was almost destroyed by an earthquake in 1842. Population (1994 estimate) 68,000.
