Haiti. North of the city of Comendador, Montagnes Pelées, lies on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The first colony established by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the Hispaniola Island was long named the Pearl of the Antilles. Separated in 1844, Haiti and the Dominican Republic have faced different challenges and threats. Haiti has suffered from dictatorship and political instability. People in Haiti live in extreme poverty and are destroying forests to make charcoal. Forest cover now represents only 2 per cent of the total surface of Haiti. Poverty, rapid urbanization, and over-population are the consequences and causes of this rapid deforestation which in turn leaves people more vulnerable to soil erosion and the effects of floods.