Haiti (Haitian Creole: Ayiti, French: Haïti) is a Caribbean country that occupies the western three-eighths of the island of Hispaniola. The eastern five-eighths of Hispaniola is occupied by the Dominican Republic. The North Atlantic Ocean lies to the north, while the Caribbean Sea lies to the south. Haiti is a country with a troubled past, and its future still remains uncertain. Decades of poverty, environmental degradation, violence, instability, dictatorship and coups, and a devastating earthquake, among other things, have left it the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.