[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.

As the world's largest supplier of vetiver, it exports 250 tons annually of this ingredient of perfume and fragrance manufacturing.

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.

[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.