[1] Due to its isolation from the political turmoil of the capital, Port-au-Prince, it is one of Haiti's major ports, with export trade concentrating on mostly coffee and sugarcane.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa was a co-founder of this town and lived there for several years trying to raise pigs as a business.

Balboa gave up that enterprise and left the town hiding in a barrel of a Spanish expedition going to explore the Gulf of Uraba, Panama.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa, later on 25 September 1513 would discover the South Sea, today known as the Pacific Ocean.

[7] Simón Bolívar arrived in Les Cayes on 24 December 1815,[8] and on 2 January 1816 was introduced to Alexandre Pétion, President of the Republic of Haiti by a mutual friend[9] seeking assistance for his insurgency against the Spanish colonial government in Venezuela.

[15] President Herbert Hoover had become increasingly pressured about the effects of occupying Haiti at the time and began inquiring about a withdrawal strategy.

[15][16][17][18][19] The massacre resulted in international outrage, with President Hoover calling on Congress to investigate conditions in Haiti the following day.

Other places of interest to tourists are the nearby Île à Vache, Pic Macaya, Saut-Mathurine falls and Kounoubois cave in Camp-Perrin, Pointe-de-Sable beach in Port-Salut, Marie-Jeanne cave in Port-a-Piment and Arrondissement Aquin where Fort des Oliviers, Fort Anglais and Bonnet Carré can be found in the town of Saint Louis du Sud.

The project to make Antoine-Simon a viable international airport is part of broader efforts aiming at ramping up infrastructure development in the south.