The Étang Saumâtre also well known as Lake Azuéi is the largest lake in the Republic of Haiti and the second largest lake in the Caribbean, after Lake Enriquillo. Lake Azuéi was baptized as well because of its brackish water, it is a twin of Lake Enriquillo. This lake testifies to a period when the Cul-De-Sac plain formed an arm of the sea, which retreated during the Oligo-Miocène uprising. Its withdrawal is due to a filling of the Isthmus by the river banks of Yaque del sur (Dominican Republic). This area, currently below the sea level, was trapped in the lowest point of the depression, giving rise to lakes of brackish water.
