<Tr> <Td> Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States </Td> </Tr> <P> Port - au - Prince (/ ˌpɔːrtoʊˈprɪns /; French pronunciation: ​ (pɔʁopʁɛ̃s); Haitian Creole: Pòtoprens; Haitian Creole pronunciation: (pɔtopɣɛ̃s)) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti . The city's population was estimated at 987,310 in 2015 with the metropolitan area (aire métropolitaine) estimated at a population of 2,618,894 . The metropolitan area is defined by the IHSI as including the communes of Port - au - Prince, Delmas, Cite Soleil, Tabarre, Carrefour, and Pétion - Ville . </P> <P> The city of Port - au - Prince is on the Gulf of Gonâve: the bay on which the city lies, which acts as a natural harbor, has sustained economic activity since the civilizations of the Arawaks . It was first incorporated under French colonial rule in 1749 . The city's layout is similar to that of an amphitheatre; commercial districts are near the water, while residential neighborhoods are located on the hills above . Its population is difficult to ascertain due to the rapid growth of slums in the hillsides above the city; however, recent estimates place the metropolitan area's population at around 3.7 million, nearly half of the country's national population . The city was catastrophically affected by a devastating earthquake in 2010, with large numbers of structures damaged or destroyed . Haiti's government estimated the death toll to be 230,000 . </P> <P> It is said that a captain named de Saint - André named the area in 1706, after he sailed into the bay in a ship named Le Prince, hence Port - au - Prince to mean, "Port of the Prince ." However, the port and the surrounding region continued to be known as Hôpital, but the islets in the bay had already been known as Les îlets du Prince as early as 1680 . French colonial commissioner Étienne Polverel named the city Port - Républicain on 23 September 1793 "in order that the inhabitants be kept continually in mind of the obligations which the French Revolution imposed on them ." It was later renamed back to Port - au - Prince by Jacques I, Emperor of Haiti . </P>

Where is port au prince located in haiti