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Haitian Revolution
In the 1600's France claimed territory on the island of Hispaniola and named its new colony Saint-Domingue.Colonists developed plantations. France brought black americans to Saint-Domingue. -
Slave population
1780’s The slave population was about half a million. The number of free colonists was about eight times fewer than the black slave population.Roughly 500,000 African slaves, 32,000 European colonists, and 24,000 affranchis made up the population. -
Haitian Revolution
During the French Revolution in 1789 Saint-Domingue preceded-and helped inspire-the Haitian Revolution. Saint-Domingue’s white elite population began a movement for self-government and free trade. The government succeeded in 1792. -
slave revolt
A huge slave revolt had broken out in August 1791. The slaves destroyed plantations and towns, devastating much of northern Saint-Domingue.French troops were sent to Saint-Domingue to put down the revolt, but many died from tropical fevers. The slaves in the mountains couldn’t capture the fortified towns but the french couldn’t defeat the slaves either. -
Spanish French war
In 1793 there was an outbreak in war between France and the British, Spanish. Britain and Spain invaded Saint-Domingue. Every country tried to employ the slaves as mercenaries. Saint-Domingue removed slavery so as to keep the slaves on their side. In the years after the slave revolt, France became increasingly dependent on an army of former slaves built up by Toussaint Louverture. -
French Control Freak
Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in France in 1799. In 1802, he sent an army to Saint-Domingue to restore French rule, racial inequality, and slavery. Louverture and others resisted and began a struggle to free the colony from French control. -
Saint-Domingue
In 1800, he defeated André Rigaud, a mixed-race general and rival, for control of the southern part of the colony. Saint-Domingue prospered under Louverture. However, former slaves who wanted to become independent peasants resented Louverture’s use of forced labor to revive the export economy. -
Dessalines
Former slave and French army general Jean-Jacques Dessalines succeeded him as leader of the rebels. The rebels defeated the French army in 1803. Dessalines declared Saint-Domingue the independent country of Haiti on Jan. 1, 1804. -
Louverture
The French army captured Louverture in 1802.However, the French broke the agreement and imprisoned him in France. He died on April 7, 1803. -
Rivals
Dessalines served as Haiti’s chief of state until he was murdered by rivals in 1806. From then until 1820, several men struggled for power, controlling different parts of the country. In 1820, Jean-Pierre Boyer reunited Haiti.
