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The 1930s were an important time for cars in the United States with the introduction of four-wheel hydraulic brakes, radio and heaters. Models began being characterized as more aerodynamic and taking on a smoother shape. This decade of car ingenuity also marked the beginning of V-8, the V-12, and the V-16 engines. Despite the depression of the 1930s and the decline of auto purchases, there were a few models of car that were quite popular.

Buick Series 40

Plymouth Model 30U

When we think of the 1930s, the images of the Great Depression leave the impression that nothing good happened because the entire country was focused simply on survival.  But in the area of automobile development, car designs of the 1930s developed some of the most significant new features for automobiles despite economic hard times. As is demonstrated by the popularity of vintage 1930s cars, some of the automobile designs of this period in history were exceptionally artistic and sophisticated.  It is phenomenal that such forward movement in the 1930s car industry occurred in light of how few in this era were privileged enough to be able to buy any kind of transportation at all, much less a new model that had ground breaking design innovation as part of its feature package. 

The result was that 1930s cars not only saw a leap forward in technical design but the styles that were created for this era of car manufacturing were distinctive and imaginative.  At the beginning of the 1930s cars almost universally were made to a four square design that was nothing if not boring.  But as the decade unfolded, some unique designs that we still identify with classic 1930s cars began to become popular. 

While by the 1930s, diesel engines were revolutionising rail transport, and giving birth to a burgeoning flight industry, on the sea and on rivers, steam was still king. Unlike with trains and aircraft, large ships remained in service for decades, meaning that many of the ships that transported passengers of the 1930s were built as early as the 1850s, and some ships built in the 1930s remain in service today. The steam turbine, first turned to use in seagoing vessels in 1897, was able to produce far more power than a traditional reciprocating steam engine. By the 1930s, all large ships were being built with such engines, allowing unprecedented speeds. For ships built in the thirties, the most popular fuel for running the boilers was no longer coal, but fuel oil. This meant that modern ships could run with a much smaller crew than earlier vessels. A typical small passenger steamer would have no more than a dozen crewmen, including a few stewards and cooks for the care of passengers. Larger vessels of course could have hundreds of crewmen (The Queen Mary, launched in 1936, had over a thousand), and were almost like floating towns, the crew forming their own community below decks.

The island of Hispaniola, which encompasses both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, was inhabited by hunter-gatherers as early as 5000 B.C. Fruits and vegetables such as guavas, pineapples, cassava, papayas, sweet potatoes, and corn were cultivated by early Haitian tribes, particularly the Arawak and Taino Indians.

It was not long before the first European arrived on the island and began introducing oranges, limes, mangoes, rice, and sugarcane. Slaves from Africa were eventually transported to Haiti to work the sugarcane plantations.

Haitian food is often lumped together with other Caribbean islands as "Caribbean cuisine."

Corn, also referred to as maize, was the leading food crop

Total production averaged approximately 185,000 tons during the 1980s; yields increased in some areas.

Rice became an increasingly common cereal, beginning in the 1960s, when increased irrigation of the Artibonite Valley aided larger-scale farming.

The famous and world-renowned music of Haiti is the Haitian Compas or Konpa Direk. Compas is a Spanish word meaning "rhythm" or "tones".

Some of the popular music forms of Haiti are Rara, Mizik Rasin, Mini-Jazz, Zouk and Haitian Rap.