CHAPTER III. 

 GEOGRAPHY. 



By Wythe Cooke. 



GENERAL FEATURES. 



Haiti, which next to Cuba is the largest West Indian island, lies nearly 

 midway between Cuba and Porto Rico. It is separated from Porto Rico, 

 on the east, by the Mona Passage, and from Cuba, on the west, by the 

 Windward Passage. As the maximum depth of water between Haiti and 

 Porto Rico is about 318 fathoms (580 meters) these islands rise from a 

 common, not greatly submerged bank, but the depth between Haiti and 

 Cuba exceeds 1,000 fathoms (1,830 meters). The northern shore of Haiti is 

 washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean ; the southern shore forms part 

 of the perimeter of the Caribbean Sea. The island lies wholly within the 

 Torrid Zone, between parallels 17° 36' 40" and 19° 58' 20" north latitude. 

 Its longitude ranges from about 68° 20' to nearly 74° 30' west of Greenwich. 

 The area of the island is said to be 73,150 square kilometers, of which the 

 Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds and the Republic of 

 Haiti the western third, but until detailed accurate surveys are made and the 

 boundary disputes between the republics are settled the true area of the 

 island and that of its two political divisions will not be known. 



Lying as it does at the intersection of jtwo of the major tectonic trends of 

 the Caribbean area, 1 the island of Haiti may be divided into two principal 

 parts, a northern, including the greater part of the island, and a southern, 

 including the southwestern peninsula and the area south of the Enriquillo 

 Basin. The axes of the mountain ranges and principal valleys in the north- 

 ern part trend about N. 60° W., are parallel, and are evidently genetically 

 related to the physical features of central and eastern Cuba. The southern 

 part extends nearly east and west, and its major tectonic axis is in line with 

 the major axis of Jamaica. These two parts can be subdivided into several 

 topographically distinct areas, which will be described separately. A third 

 part, which is structurally distinct from the others, is the broad coastal 

 plain — the plains of Seibo and Bani — in the southeastern part of the island. 



The topographic divisions in the part of the island that is included in the 

 Dominican Republic are the Cordillera Septentrional, Samana Peninsula, 

 Cibao Valley, Cordillera Central, Valley of San Juan, Azua Plain, Sierra de 

 Neiba, Sierra de Martin Garcia, Enriquillo Basin, Sierra de Bahoruco, 

 southern peninsula, and the coastal plain. The boundaries between these 

 topographic areas are shown approximately on Plate I. 



» Vaughan, T. W., U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 103, pp. 599-603, 1919. 



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