Hi, Bodelair. How are you doing? How are you doing, Dylan? I'm good. I'm really excited

to do this with you. This is the first chance we've had to record an episode together. And

for everyone who doesn't know Bodelair, which you wouldn't, because this is the first episode

we've done together, this is Bodelair Seuss. So we're going to be talking about something today

that I know you're a little bit of an expert or like a buff in. We're going to be talking about

Haitian history, is that right? Yes, yeah. So I'm Haitian-American, both of my parents born in

Haiti. And yes, I'd say in the past like five years, I've been doing a lot of like reading and

everything, everything I can learn possibly by Haitian history. I've tried to learn.

It sounds like today you're going to talk to me about a like a specific place in Haiti, yeah?

Yes, yes. And in northern Haiti, 17 miles south of Kapai, which is the second largest city in Haiti,

built the top of mountain, there's this huge fortress, the actually the largest fortress in the

western hemisphere. I've intrigued. What are we? What is this place? Today, we're going to be visiting the

Citadel La Faye, which for the past 200 years has stood to protect the world's first Black Republic

from any invaders.

I'm Dylan Thurus and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange,

incredible and wondrous places. And today, we're going to that massive fortress to learn why it was

built and what it meant to Haitians and their newly-free country. More after this.

So I mean, my Haitian history is like pretty thin if I'm honest, but you know, the thing I remember

obviously is the revolution. It happens very early in the 1800s, right? And it's Haitian

slaves revolting against France. They're colonizing power and essentially kicking them out, like off

the island and taking back control. Is that a fair kind of like frame? Yeah, but it's really important

to stress that this is Napoleon's France. This is the baddest France that has existed. So Haiti

...