St. Domingue: A Brief History Of Haiti

The Haitian Revolution was one of the most important slave revolts in Latin American history. It started a succession of other revolutionary wars in Latin America and ended both colonialism and imperialism in the Americas. The Haitian Revolution affected people from all social castes in Haiti including the indigenous natives, mestizos, mulattos and the Afro-Latin. The idea of starting a rebellion against France began with the colony’s white elite class seeking a capitalist market. These elites in the richest mining and plantation economies felt that the European governments were limiting their growth and restricting free trades. However, the Afro-Latin, mestizos and mulattos turned the Haitian Revolution into a war for equality and built a new state. The Haitian Revolution, with the support of it large slave population and lower class citizens, eliminated slavery and founded the Republic of Haiti. Tin this essay I will discuss how mestizos, mulattos and the Afro-Latin Americans population in Haiti participate in the fight for independence and how they creation of new republics.

The island country the world knows as Haiti, was originally a French colony named Saint Domingue, which came from the Spanish who were the first Europeans to settle the island. During the 16th century at the height of New World exploration and conquest Saint Domingue’s location served as an outpost for privateers who were hired to rob Spanish ships of their valuables in the name of France and Great Britain, for a short period even Holland participated in the thievery. The idea was to steal the valuables and good the Spanish had among the ships and give the majority of the profit and the rest could be split among the men. As with most great men and conquerors of the time corruption and greed often separated noble subjects of the crown and gave way to the common criminal. Piracy was an ideal solution for many of the men who decided to go rogue and become freelance criminals. The men were convinced by the French

Haiti has experienced some pretty hard times. The day was December 4th 1492. The locals were going about their day when a ship came across the shore, and inside was Christopher Columbus. He made the soldiers go to the island and turn some of the locals into slaves. Eventually a European colony came to Haiti with some slaves. [Some of the people in haiti now are descendents from the slaves and the colonists.] There were more and more slaves coming.

The Republic of Haiti has a unique and vibrant culture. It was once hailed as the "Pearl of the Antilles" for being the wealthiest colony in the world. This small Latin American island tells a story of slaves enduring resistance to the some of the most dominant forces abroad. In 1804, Haiti became the first free black republic and the second post-colonial country in the Americas. However, the days of being the wealthiest colony have since passed. Haiti is now considered to be the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere. The proud history of this country is overshadowed by alarming rates of poverty, violence, and inequality. This island nation’s government has been plagued with numerous military staged coups and misfortunes. I

Purpose: To understand how Haiti became what it is and all the trials it has endured

The Haitian Revolution took place in 1791. One of the main Factors which led to the success of the revolution is the collapse and the malfunction of the French Monarchy. In France, the revolutionary government was considering equality. The governor at the time implemented the idea of equality for all blacks and whites to bend, he also mandated that slavery abolished. Instead of the people of France agreeing with him they Beheaded him and killed his members. The salves thought that they had been freed in the Caribbean which resulted in their starting to resist and revolt on the basis that the planter were hiding their freedom from them. They wanted to be free and not be beaten anymore. Which sparked the Haitian Revolution

Many times throughout history, we can see the effects of independent thought. There was the revolt of the slaves in Rome led by Spartacus, The Zanj Rebellion in the Middle East, and The Civil War in the United States. However, The Haitian Revolution is one of the most effective and swift Slave revolts of all time. The causes of the Haitian Revolution were quite simple and was similar to any other kind of slave revolt. Many ideas carried around by slave traders at the time such as treating slaves as property, using social/racial classes, and oppressive control ultimately tipped the slaves over the edge. Ideas of independence also sparked the revolution, and one key inspiration to the cause was The French Revolution. This is not very

The Haitian Revolution produced the second independent nation after the United States of America became independent in the early 1780’s. The political leaders, countless of them who owned slaves, reacted to the appearance of Haiti as a nation created out of a slave rebellion with uncertainty, at times supplying assistance to control and put down the rebellion, and later on in the revolution, giving support to the French forces. Proper to these changes in plans and internal concerns, the United States of America would not formally accept the Haitian independence until the year 1862. Since the revolutionaries clearly asserted independence as their topmost ideal, slavery was enclosed to come into dispute during the French Revolution. Even

The cause and effects of the Haitian Revolution have played, and continue to play, a major role in the history of the Caribbean. During the time of this rebellion, slavery was a large institution throughout the Caribbean. The success of the sugar and other plantations was based on the large slave labor forces. Without these forces, Saint Domingue, the island with the largest sugar production, and the rest of the Caribbean, would face the threat of losing a profitable industry.

After enlightenment ideals began to spread across the globe, revolutions and wars for independence became commonplace throughout the world. After the French revolution, many countries and colonies began to follow suit and desire major changes in their colonies whether it be independence or equality/rights for all citizens. One such colony where this took place was the French colony of Saint-Domingue. The revolution, which took place here, was one not originally for independence but for equality among at least three different classes of people. These classes were the white French settlers, the gens de couleur and finally the slaves. Many traditional narratives of the Haitian Revolution say the fighting in Saint-Domingue was civil war fought between three distinct groups , closer examination of primary sources show that some white settlers, many of the gens de couleur, and slaves fought toward the same goal.

The French solely wanted to use Haiti as a ‘factory’ or an ‘economic producer’ of coffee and sugar to export back to European countries. They destroyed the soil after harvesting coffee and sugar yearly and created rebellious slaves which led to the Haitian Revolution decades later. Haiti had slavery, a revolution, deforestation, corruption, and exploitation. Now it has poverty, shortages in supply for education, no infrastructure, and environmental disasters. The consequence all relates to each other.

The French and their slaves populated the island of Haiti during the 18th century. In the late 1700’s, the slaves revolted against the French and began a thirteen-year war for their freedom. This war began the significant problems for Haiti. Today, Haiti suffers from malnutrition, low standards of living, and poor literacy, which Haiti still faces today.

The end of foreign control over various territories in Latin America has been a major change in this region’s history. For many decades the colony of Saint Domingue was under French control and used to produce various agricultural products. It was home to over a half-million slaves that worked on the 8,000 sugar and coffee plantations.This changed when in the late 18th century a slave revolution took place led by the former slave Toussaint L'ouverture. By the end of the revolt French rule had been ended and the newly named “Haiti” had become independent. This ending of foreign control was stimulated by

Brief history… Haiti takes up about 1/3 of the land of the island Hispaniola, neighboring the Dominican Republic. The whole Island was once under the control of Spain in 1942 after Columbus made an appearance. In the 17th century, France colonized on part of the Island and renamed it Saint-Dominigue. It wasn’t until 1803…300 years, tens of thousands of African slaves, and one hierarchal social system later, did this chunk of land become the independent republic, Haiti. (1).

In 1791 revolution broke out in the French colony of Saint Domingue, later called Haiti. The Haitian Revolution resounded in communities surrounding the Atlantic Ocean. One of the wealthiest European outposts in the New World, the Caribbean island's western third had some of the largest and most brutal slave plantations. Slave laborers cultivated sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton, and they endured horrible death rates, requiring constant infusions of slaves from Africa. In 1789 roughly 465,000 black slaves lived in the French colony on the island, along with fewer than 31,000 whites. In addition, there were about 23,000 free blacks and mixed-race people called gens de couleur, who might own land and accrue wealth but had no political