The Laptev Sea, into which the Lena River empties, helps keep the temperature of the world's northernmost regions regulated, through large blocks of ice that from from the Lena's outflow and then break off when the temperature rises at the river's mouth, drifting off to cool.
The Independence of Haiti (1804) Contenidos Adicicionales. Since the late 17th Century, the French holds the western part of Saint-Domingues Island, Hispaniola. A century later, sugar cane production makes Haiti one of the current most prosperous colonies of the Caribbean, thanks to the new independent United States.
The Haitians proclaimed themselves the first black republic in the world in 1804, and have remained independent to this day. December 5, 1492: Columbus discovers Haiti (the island of Hispaniola) 1697: The Spaniards cede the western third of Hispaniola to the French crown at the Treaty of Ryswick. Haiti is now called Saint Domingue. 1697-1791: Saint Domingue becomes the richest colony in the world. Its capital, Cap Franais, is known as the Paris of the New World.