Gulf of Gonave

The Gulf of Gonâve framed the search for a new administrative and commercial centre in French Saint-Domingue. During the 1720s and 1730s, officials compared sites at Petit-Goâve, Léogâne and the bay of the future Port-au-Prince. Surveys of the anchorage and proposals for fortifications reflected the danger of attacks from the sea, as well as the need to connect the Léogâne coastal road with the Cul-de-Sac plain.

The ordinance of 13 June 1749 organised the new town of Port-au-Prince. Plots near the waterfront were reserved for merchants, tying the urban plan directly to shipping. Vessels anchored in the roadstead unloaded building timber from the forests of Gonâve and Baradères, while stone came from the Fortin hill. The gulf thus supplied the growing settlement as well as giving it access to overseas commerce. Its waters joined a network of coastal towns whose rival claims had delayed the choice of the new colonial capital.