The island that Haiti is on, Hispaniola, which also includes the Dominican Republic, was originally inhabited by the South American indigenous Taíno people. The Taíno were the first to call the island Haiti ("Haiti").

Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain, which then ceded the island to France ("Haiti"). 

The Haitian Revolution ended in 1804 when "Jean-Jacques Dessalines...declared Haiti's sovereignty on 1 January 1804—the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the second republic in the Americas, the first country to abolish slavery, and the only state in history established by a successful slave revolt" ("Haiti").

Most people who live in Haiti speak Haitian Creole, a language that evolved from the interaction of French colonists with enslaved peoples of West Africa speaking languages like Igbo and Fon. Haitian Creole "also has influences from Spanish, English, Portuguese, Taino, and other West African languages" ("Haitian Creole").

Until the 2000s, schools taught all lessons in Standard French, different from Haitian French and Haitian Creole ("Haitian Creole").

"Dancing is a part of the Haitian way of life and the music of Haiti draws upon Caribbean, French, African, and Spanish influences" (Iddings). There are many forms of music that are unique to Haiti, including Twoubadou, Rasin, Rara, and compas ("Haiti").

Haitian art includes influences from Africa, as well as American, European, and Indigenous artistic traditions. "Many artists cluster in "schools" of painting, such as the Cap-Haïtien school, which features depictions of daily life in the city, the Jacmel School, which reflects the steep mountains and bays of that coastal town, or the Saint-Soleil School, which is characterized by abstracted human forms and is heavily influenced by "Vaudou" symbolism" ("Haitian art").