Saint-Marc

Saint-Marc is a commune in western Haiti in Artibonite departement. Its geographic coordinates are . At the 2003 Census the commune had 160,181 inhabitants. It is one of the biggest cities, second to Gonaïves, between Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien. Before the settlement of the French, the region was known as Amani-y ad part of the Xaragua caciquat. The port of Saint-Marc is currently the preferred port of entry for consumer goods coming into Haiti. Reasons for this may include its location away from volatile and congested Port-au-Prince as well as its central location relative to a large group of Haitian cities including Cap-Haïtien, Carrefour, Delmas, Fort-Liberté, Gonaïves, Hinche, Limbe, Pétion-Ville, Port-de-Paix, and Verrettes. These cities, together with their surrounding areas, contain nearly eight million of Haiti's ten million people (2009). In 1905 the Compagnie Nationale or National Railroad built a 100 km railroad north to Saint-Marc from the national capital of Port-au-Prince. The track was later extended another 30 km east to Verrettes.