Haiti

• Type: Country
• Location: Caribbean
• Owner/Residents: Unspecified Haitian wizarding community.
• Key Features: Known as the site of a significant incident involving Inferi orchestrated by Lord Voldemort.

Haiti is a country located in the Caribbean. While little is detailed about its magical community, it is known to have a wizarding population. (Pottermore) The most notable event associated with Haiti in modern wizarding history is an incident referred to by Albus Dumbledore as “that business in Haiti”. This event involved a large number of Inferi and was significant enough to be known to Dumbledore in Britain. It is presented as an example of Lord Voldemort's early mastery and use of this particular branch of the Dark Arts, demonstrating the international scope of his activities even prior to the Second Wizarding War. Students from the Caribbean region, including Haiti, are eligible to attend Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in North America (Pottermore).

Haiti's primary role in the narrative is to broaden the scope of Lord Voldemort's power and influence beyond the confines of Britain. The single mention of the country in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince serves several purposes:

• It establishes Voldemort's long-standing proficiency in creating and commanding Inferi, a particularly dark form of magic.
• It demonstrates that Voldemort's activities were global, underscoring the true extent of his threat to the wizarding world.
• It provides context for the presence of Inferi in the seaside cave where Voldemort hid one of his Horcruxes, suggesting he had vast experience with them from incidents like the one in Haiti.

• J.K. Rowling's choice of Haiti as a location for an Inferi-related incident may be a reference to the real-world Haitian Vodou (Voodoo) folk religion, which features lore concerning reanimated corpses, or zombies. This provides a cultural parallel to the magically reanimated bodies that are Inferi.