Cap-Haïtien
The region around the city had the Taíno name of Guarico, the name used by the Spanish colonists for the region and the new city. When French people came from the Tortuga Island to live here, they founded the city in 1670 and the French King Louis XIV named the place as Cap-Français in 1711; it was then the capital city of the Saint-Domingue colony until 1770 when Port-au-Prince became the new capital city.