-
1770s-1780s
French planters frequently demanded freer trade, sometimes through violent revolt -
1776
American Revolution began -
1779
several hundred "gens de couleur" — free men of African descent — joined the French military, which was supporting the American rebels, and fought at the siege of Savannah -
1783
United States won independence from Britain -
1789-1791
First stage of the Haitian Revolution – free people of color began to fight for political rights, first peacefully then violently -
1789-1799
French Revolution -
1789
French colony's slave system would soon be completely overturned -
1791-1804
Haitian Revolution -
1791
Tens of thousands of enslaved people in the north of Haiti rise up against the plantation system. -
1793-1794
Uprising became a political and military movement and local officials declared an end to slavery in the colonies. -
1793
Haiti's decree was the first national abolition of slavery in history. -
1801
Napoleon starts to reverse France’s ban on slavery leading to war between French and Haitian forces. -
1804
Haiti wins independence and the colony became a new nation, led by an ex-slave general named Jean-Jacques Dessalines -
1862
United States finally acknowledged Haitian independence