
Abricots, Haiti

Location in Haiti

Children playing in the street in Abricots
Abricots (Kreyòl: Abriko) is a town located at the extreme northwestern tip of the Tiburon Peninsula in Grand'Anse, Haiti. Founded as "Indian Paradise" by the Spanish, it was renamed in 1789 after the apricot trees overlooking the banks of the Rivière des Abricots. Surrounded by a vast coastal area, the town is known for its exotic beaches, its many sites that are remnants of colonial buildings, and its status as a vacation destination.
History[]
The name "Indian Paradise" was inherited from a legend spread by the first Spanish chroniclers. At the time of European encounter, the area was long settled by the historic Arawak tribe, who had known the region as their paradise. They spoke Taíno, a South American Arawakan dialect that they shared in common with their closely related neighbors, the Caribs.
As early as 1681 Portuguese Marranian Jews arrived there fleeing persecution and pogroms and founded a synagogue. Apricots enters the historical record around the second half of the 17th century when the land was first settled by French pirates. By that time, the established town of Indian Paradise was officially changed to Abricots. The settlers named the settlement for the fruit; the banks of the river and the Lonmon plateau overlooking it were covered with a forest of apricot trees. Early principal activities were farming, shipping, fishing, and cocoa production, which was very popular due to the introduction of cocoa in 1736 by the French-Swiss settler Conrad de Spechbach, owner of a sugar factory. For a century, the town depended on the parish of Dame-Marie until 1789 when it became a parish.
The village, which experienced relative prosperity at the end of the 19th century (1800s) and the first half of the 20th century (1900s) thanks to the investments of the bourgeoisie of Jérémie (cocoa, guildive, trade etc) was ruined and completely destroyed by Hurricane Hazel in 1954. It did not fully recover from this calamity.
Geography[]


Abricots
Abricots is located at the very tip of the Tiburon Peninsula, at 18.6501° N, 74.3067° W. According to the IHSI, this commune has a total land area of 102.89 square kilometers (39.73 square miles), of which 73.87 km2 (72%) is rural, 28.87 km2 (28%) is suburban, and 0.15 km2 (>1%) is urban. The municipality has four communal sections spread across a territory consisting primarily of hills and mountains in the southern part of town, and plains in the north. These northerly plains abut small alluvial valleys that meander between plateaus with an average altitude of 200 to 300 meters (300 to 1,000 feet).
The inhabitants of this commune are called Abricotins. People living here are known for their kindness and beauty. Situated on a natural bay, the town has nearly 16 kilometers (10 miles) coastal shoreline. Abricots is bordered to the east by the town of Bonbon, to the south by Moron and Chambellan, and to the south and west by Dame-Marie. The open Caribbean Sea borders its north.
The town is 19 km (12 miles) west (by road) from the city of Jérémie and 305 km (190 miles) by road to Port-au-Prince. Abricots is 207 km (129 miles) west from Port-au-Prince by air or sea.
Demographics
Year | Population | +/- |
---|---|---|
1890 | 8,000 | |
1998 | 34,329 | |
2003 | 24,555 | -28% |
2009 | 34,262 | +39% |
2015 | 37,675 | +9% |

Beach at Abricots, Haiti
Communal Sections
ABR | Abricots | ||
---|---|---|---|
VAB | Ville des Abricots | ||
ACL | 1ère Section Anse-du-Clerc | ||
BLS | 2ème Section Balisiers | ||
DAG | 3ème Section Danglise | ||
LSE | 4ème Section La Seringue |
Hydrography[]
Abricots is watered by the Rivière de l’Anse-du-Clerc, the Grande Rivière des Abricots with its tributaries, Rivière Balisiers, Rivière Dangluse, Cape River, and, serving as a border with Dame-Marie, the Rivière La Seringue. They cross and water alluvial valleys.
Climate[]
Under the climate classification, Ville d'Abricots and the coastal areas features a Mediterranean climate (Csa), characterized by hot dry-summers, and usually occuring on the western sides of continents. The suburbs to the immediate south and west lie in a transitional zone between wet and cool. Rainfall is relatively abundant compared to the national average: 1500 mm (59 in.) Two rainy seasons from April to May and from July to November. Rainfall varies considerably from year to year between the December and March months. The wind is fairly constant. Trade winds and cyclones have their own season from May to December.
Architecture[]
Abricots has buildings of Ajoupa type with clad walls and thatched roofs both in the communal sections and in the less affluent neighborhoods of its villages.
For the relatively affluent, the thatch or vetiver roof is replaced by a sheet metal roof and splicing by light masonry. Concrete and cement blocks became the city's building materials of choice recently in the village and even in the countryside, where many of the houses are light structures.
Economy[]
As part of the Grand'Anse recreational coast, tourism is the main attraction with tourists visiting the city to spend quality time in exploring the exotic surroundings. Beautiful beaches adorn the coast at Anse-du-Clerc, Abricots (ville), and near La Seringue. Huge tourist potential which, during the holidays, gives rise to activity (bathing, beach sports, swimming competitions, sailing, and fishing). Abricots has a unique tourist infrastructure where some of the best Haitian cooks prepare seafood with distinguished taste. Exclusive seasoning and natural herbs are used for preparing fresh seafood harvested from the sea, the same day.
In the well-watered plains of the alluvial valley, industry concentrates on agriculture and in terms of economic infrastructure, a hotel, at least two restaurants, and a farm credit bank were counted.
The area is also host to other light industry, such as fishing, livestock and trade. There is a well-developed Cane-to-sugar industry in the plains, an inheritance of the colony; its quality being recognized in international markets. But the culture has more and more abandoned this activity. Food products include bananas, tubers (yam, malanga, cassava), peas and fruits like citrus, soursop, grenadia and others. •The municipality exports coffee and cocoa.
There were nearly a dozen distilleries at the beginning of the century. One of these companies remains and was one of the pioneers in the transforming of cane to syrup to tafia. Another company, the Indian Paradise Foundation, saw the birth of a small project to provide work and income for women in production: roasting and spraying coffee and cocoa, drying and spraying of yams, malanga, giraumont, and drying and preparation of fruits (mangoes) and others). Exploitation of a craft related to embroidery, sewing and decorative objects has also been an end.
Jobs[]
Agriculture and fishing are the two main occupations of the population but given the precarious conditions of their exercise, they are like disguised unemployment. More than three quarters of the working population must be considered unemployed, with no fixed and continuous income. The production of coal is a substitute that 'more and more', ensures the quality of life and a small capitalization for trade.
Fishing
More than 300 fishermen grouped into an association that can not be operational until now. Despite any lucrative activity outside the summer, thanks to the DCP (fish aggregating device installed at 12km offshore by the Rural Development Program, a program funded by the European Union) and constant migrations of "schools" of fish (trevally, sea bream, bonito, sardine, coulourou, and herring) between May and December. But a double problem of conservation and storage limits the profitability of this activity.
Breeding
Activity formerly important but reduced from the 80s following the extermination of pigs due to swine fever and repeated flights of cattle.
Trade
It is, for the most part, provided by street vendors peddling their goods on the back of animals to the most remote corners. Very small shops in the villages sell the necessities bought from Jérémie or Port-au-Prince which in the summer season makes the supply random.
Market
Three public markets serve the entire municipality. Monday in the village of Apricots, Wednesday in Lhermite and Friday in Kalem which remains the most important center of exchanges between the communal sections. These markets lack adequate structures, which does not allow strict adherence to hygiene rules. As such, slaughterhouses are non-existent.
Infrastructure[]
Transportation[]

Youths use a basic ferry to cross the river; Abricots, Haiti
For nearly all of Abricots' recorded history, life has revolved around the waterfront, on its northern shore, which is devoid of a developed port. Boarding and disembarkation are made impossible, for lack of a wharf, by the disassembled sea which makes it dangerous to frequent the bay. This makes it extremely difficult to move agricultural products to external markets, leading to a certain waste of products and to the loss of income for farmers, who are increasingly abandoning agriculture, their main activity. An additional element of Abricots' geography tremendously influenced the manner in which the town evolved: the town is physically isolated, being at the hard-to-reach tip of a long narrow peninsula.
Road
Connected only in 1962 to the national road network, Abricots is in fact virtually isolated from other nearby municipalities. Abricots is the western terminus of Route Communale 700-B, which enters the commune from the east, originating in Jérémie. The route is an extension of Route Nationale 7 and passes through the town, mostly following Route de Bonbon, and ending just south of the Abricots Town Center at the intersection with Route Saint-Victor.
And the village communicates with difficulty with its communal sections (lack of access) because of the terrain and risks on mountain trails. No roads lead to Dame-Marie, Chambellan, nor Moron, villages located less than 20 kilometers from Abricots. The section of road between Abricots and Bonbon is cut in places by the rains. The section linking Bonbon to Jérémie, recently rehabilitated, was damaged by the recent rains.
Air
There are two airstrips not far from Abricots. Jérémie Airport and Gourdin Airport (Dame-Marie) are both about 17 km (10 miles) away. But access can be difficult, due to road conditions.
Education[]

Indian Paradise School
The Ministry of the National Education of Youth and Sports is represented in the commune of Abricots, by an office of the School Department. More than 60 schools have been identified, private and public, enrolling nearly 9,000 children. The Indian Paradise Foundation maintains a dozen of them and provides students with a hot meal. Students can get education right up to the high school level as provided by the educational system in Abricots. Despite precarious teaching conditions, youth and children are able to get primary and secondary education in the town.
In the region there is one school providing technical education. At secondary level there is only one high school and two colleges in the village of Abricots . No schools are available to gain education at the university level. If any student is keen on getting university or even college education, then the student has to travel to Port-au-Prince or Jérémie.
Healthcare[]
The ministry of Public Health has no representatives at the level of the commune. Limited healthcare facilities e available for the people living in Abricots. A clinic and a maternity hospital have been listed in the commune. The medical staff consists of 2 qualified physicians, one nurse, one auxillary, and seven certified matrons. A public clinic with limited possibilities of hospitalization, maximum 4 people, works in the village. A embryonic laboratory exists for the detection of malaria and intestinal parasitosis. A health center in Anse-du-Clerc run by the Catholic Church serves this locality with its small laboratory. A small relay center in Saint-Victor, supported by Doctors of the World, orients the patients according to the severity of cases in Abricots or Jérémie. Only health workers and matrons are present in the other communal sections unfortunately lacking a reception structure. Even if the medical facilities are limited to few, there are at least a dozen healthcare professionals who assure the best care for people in Abricots. Provision of medications are at low prices by Medecins du Monde, USAID / MSH (screening and treatment of AIDS) and Mennonites (screening and treatment of tuberculosis). Cuban doctors and nurses provide care in cooperation with the Haitian government.
Utilities[]
For water availability, the town has two rivers, 40 springs and a lagoon. It is worth mentioning that there are four fountains and a public shower. Similarly, the first section Anse-du-Clerc has three fountains and a public shower. Source catchments have been made in some areas of communal sections feeding small settlements. But damaged by repeated showers over the years, they discharge water of very poor quality. Thus at Anse-du-Clerc, the water of the fountains is practically polluted. In the village of the Abricots, the capture was made at a point of resurgence of the Dérangé Source. In the rainy season, water runs muddy in the taps of fountains causing conditions like dysentery.

House in Abricots
For electricity and communication, the city and the first communal section Anse-du-Clerc are electrified by an electric motor. The management of electrical energy is made by a committee consisting of nine and ten persons respectively for the city and the 1st section of Anse-du-Clerc. No electricity serving the communal sections. Some houses use solar energy or generators. In general, the population uses the kerosene lamp for lighting.
Administration[]
As of January 2021
![]() Jean Ricardo Louis |
![]() Yvrose Neptune |
![]() Jean Seraphin Brunache |
Party: PHTK |
Culture[]
Religion
On the side of religion, people in Abricots are very spiritual. The population is served by twenty churches of various denominations: thirteen Catholic temples (chapels included), seven Baptist churches, four Adventist churches, four churches of God and one Wesleyan Church were listed.
Local mambos and houngans provide consultation for various healthcare and spiritual needs.
Leisure

Public place; Abricots, Haiti
As for leisure, the commune of Abricots does not have a library, a museum, a theatre room or a cinema. The only sport played is football (soccer).
Communication
There is an FM community radio station, "Vwa Peyizan Abriko" (The People's Voice of Abricots), providing information, education, and animation. Unfortunately it can not be captured by all the communal sections.
There is no television station, no newspaper/magazine in the commune. The postal office exists with a single factor for the whole municipality.
There was a public telecommunications service (Teleco) that became inoperative in the year 2001. Today thanks to the mobile operators, in particular Digicel, the municipality is connected to the rest of the country and to the whole world.
Organizations[]
- Friends of Paradis des Indiens Inc. works primarily to educate with a goal of empowering the people of Abricots to achieve both financial independence and self-sufficiency through entrepreneurial development.
- SOFA (Solidarite Fanm Ayisyen de Abricots) provides important emotional, mental health, and accompaniment services for women and girls across Haiti who experience violence.
Heritage[]
A set of tradition that mixes culture, sport, leisure to determine a way of life.
La Fête des rois (The feast of kings), January 6: pretext for the peasantry to invite the "city" to fraternal feasts;
Ara (Western Region Rara Equivalent) Meeting on Holy Thursday for a free fight night to designate a champion for the region. Immediately after, pinged dance, survival of the Indian dances and tour of the notables of the surrounding areas, until the morning of Holy Saturday. Ceremony of the "lava I" at the river at the edge of the market of Kalem then dispersion;
Ti Easter: a parade at the feast of kings takes place on Sunday after Easter. Bamboos and peasant beasts to put an end to the fast of the Lenten season;
Vacances d'été (Summer holidays): Recreational festivals throughout the communal sections with fairs, ball, football (soccer) championships etc. This for almost three months;
Carnival with last day mask games to figure the three stages of the settlement of Haiti. Masks dressed in red mud, white mud and black mud;
Gaguere: Main leisure of men. Pretext for weekly fairs from September to April;
Cemetery grazing: a large annual fair during the cleaning of the Spebak cemetery;
Three days of festivities and economic exchanges.
Environment[]
Drainage
In Abricots (Ville) and Anse-du-Clerc, there is no drainage system. Given the topography of the places it is not without danger because the two villages are located at foothills and at sea level. In the rainy season, the water runs down the hills in the east and floods the villages. The water stagnates for days or weeks causing epidemics of malaria. In the town center of Abricots the sea, often unleashed, pushes flood waters of the river which floods the lower parts of which the Mahot becomes an infested area of mosquitoes.
Sanitation
Serious health problems exist in the disposal and treatment of waste in the village of Abricots. The proliferation of latrines by the GTZ, the Doctors of the World and the Mennonites, had brought a solution to these problems. But soon the latrines dug at shallow depths were saturated and the population got used to using both ends of the beach. There is a road service at the level of the town hall but not having the capacity to treat residential garbage and rubbish generated by market days. It follows therefore to use the beach as a public dump.
References and sources[]
Explore beautiful Abricots town in Haiti - [1]
Commune des Abricots, Haiti [2]
"Hand in Hand for Haiti – the rich fruit of Les Abricots" [3]
"La Famille Spechbach" FACMI, Friends of the Château de Miécourt Foundation - [4]
Neighborhoods
ABR | Abricots | 37,765 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
VAB | Ville des Abricots | Urban | 1,353 | ||
ACL | 1ère Section Anse-du-Clerc | Rural | 8,363 | Badin, Coq-Vilaire, Cote-de-Fer, Desravines, Gervais, Gros-Guillaume, Jacques. | |
BLS | 2ème Section Balisiers | Rural section | 10,667 | Baptiste, Beril . | |
DAG | 3ème Section Danglise | Rural | 7,005 | Bois-Duval, Chajotte, Lafitte, La Gombrit, Pierre-Philippe, Sajotte | |
LSE | 4ème Section La Seringue | Rural | 10,277 | Anse Joseph, Cafetière, Durocher, Fouache, Laite, La Seringue, L'Homond, Livrette, Logo, Marcorsi, Payrette, Saint-Juste, Saint-Victor. |
Michael Vedrine