I'd be interested to know more about the status of Haitian Creole as a language. Is it standardised enough to be considered a language in its own right or is it a variable mixture of French and indigenous language/s? Does it have any official or public status in Haiti, for instance in schools or government or media/broadcasting? I've just seen that there are Haitian Creole lessons available on the internet. And Wikipedia says it is the ONLY language of most Haitians - but it also says that until 2000, French was the only language of instruction in Haitian schools.

Most of my questions are answered in the History section of this Wikapedia article