Pignon is a municipality in the Saint-Raphaël Arrondissement

Saint-Raphaël Arrondissement

Saint-Raphaël is an arrondissement in the Nord Department of Haiti.It has 117,530 inhabitants.Postal codes in the Saint-Raphaël Arrondissement start with the number 14.-Communes:...

, in the Nord Department of Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

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It has 29,327 inhabitants.

Government

The actual first mayor is Wiswick Fidel, and the second mayor is Henri Claude Crepin.
During the November 28, 2010 election, Mr. Hidson Nelson was reelected as the Deputy for Pignon, Lavictoire, and Ranquite for 5 years.

History

Pignon is located at the border of the Central Plateau and North Departments. When France first acquired the western third of the island from Spain, Pignon laid right at the border of French and Spanish territories. It was founded in 1699 by Jean Guillaume de Pignon, one of the first French tradesmen and plantation owners who settled the western portion of Hispaniola after the Treaty of Ryswick with Spain. The vast valleys were suitable for tobacco, sugar cane, coffee, banana, mangoes, cocoa and animal production for export to France and trade with the Spanish neighbors in Hinche. The mountain chain overlooking the valleys provided protection against tropical storms and tornadoes, made the area even more desirable to Guillaume. Later, with over 700 male slaves in different plantations throughout the area, he and his family turned the area into a commercial trading hub of sort. He and his family settled the village, right at the foot of the mountain which bears his name to this day.

Transportation

Modern day Pignon has an airport (Pignon Airport

Pignon Airport

Pignon airport is an airport located in Pignon a city in the northern department of Haiti.This airport is served by scheduled and charter airlines from Port-au-Prince. The runway length is 3,500 ft long and unpaved.-Airlines and destinations:...

), which is 3500 ft (1,066.8 m) and unpaved. Service to and from Port-au-Prince provided by Sunrise Airways

Sunrise Airways

Sunrise Airways, founded in 2010, is an airline in Haiti that now provides charter flights. Sunrise Airways specializes in passenger charters, ad-hoc charter flights, chains of charter flights, and wet lease of its aircraft....

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Notable High Schools

• Collège de la Grace,
• Collège Frederick Marcellin
• Lycée National de Pignon

Primary schools

École Saint Joseph, École Nationale Capois La Mort, École baptiste Conservatrice, and École Baptiste Jerusalem.

Health

Pignon has relatively high quality health care in the nation. Because of Hôpital Bienfaisance, which is among the nation's better equipped hospitals with both personnel and technology, the population has a high quality of service in this domain.

Economy

Pignon is one of the country's top suppliers for sugarcane and alcohol. There are many and vast plantations of sugarcane. Back in the days, farmers used to make their living by providing syrup and molasses to companies like Welch. Now, planters use their sugarcane to make clarin and sell it to the local market and throughout the nation.