The Story of the Haitian Revolution
A brief history of the island of Hispaniola, its early inhabitants, and the revolution that led to the modern nation of Haiti.
In 1791, a remarkable and unlikely revolution occurred on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. After centuries of captivity, the enslaved people of Saint-Domingue declared themselves free and launched a rebellion against the French Empire. Its leaders were inspired at least in part by the recent republican revolutions in the United States and France itself. But how did a group of enslaved people and their allies, with little education and few resources, manage to evict a mighty colonial empire? And how did they then build a nation to withstand the test of time? In order to understand the Haitian Revolution and its significance, we must first explore the history of an island and its people.
Pre-Colonial Haiti
For most of its long history, Hispaniola was a remote, tropical island inhabited mainly by Arawak-speaking peoples like the Taíno. Arawak-speaking cultures appear to have moved in waves to the island from the Yucatan Peninsula over thousands of years. The last major migration was undertaken by Taíno people, who arrived on Hispaniola around 600 CE. There, they quickly assumed political power. By the late 15th century, they had divided the island into five distinct chiefdoms. These were called Jaragua, Marién, Maguá, Maguana, and Higüey.
Each chiefdom, or cacicazgo, was led by a ruler called a cacique. These political states each had unique identities; they traded with each other, went to war, and exchanged diplomats much like countries do today. They also faced external threats, most notably from the Caribs, a culture of seafaring raiders who traveled from island to island.
Columbus and the Colony of Santo Domingo
On December 5, 1492, the power balance of Hispaniola would change forever. Three Spanish ships, under the charge of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, first arrived in what was then the Chiefdom of Marién. The next day, the sailors set foot on shore. They had already visited the islands of San Salvador and Cuba, receiving friendly welcomes from the people of both lands. On Hispaniola, they found similarly warm treatment, but also something they valued far more: gold.
Columbus, of course, was not expecting to find the Caribbean. His expedition was a gamble, seeking a faster route to the rich markets of Japan, China, and India. Contrary to popular myth, most educated Europeans of his day were well aware that the Earth is spherical. Columbus, however, believed that the Earth’s circumference was much smaller than it really is. He thought that a relatively short journey across the Atlantic would soon take him to the shores of East Asia. And, for years, he continued to believe that he had found such a route, and that the people greeting him were “Indians.” Instead, Columbus unwittingly began the process of reintroducing two large human populations, held apart by oceans for thousands of years.
But the presence of gold, and the diseases carried by the Spanish, spelled near-doom for the Taíno. Columbus soon returned with more men and plans for the colony of La Española, or Santo Domingo. The chiefdoms governing the island initially viewed the Spanish as potential allies and trading partners. But depopulation and the military dominance of Spain soon pushed the Taíno into slavery, known as the encomienda system. They were forced to work in mines or as farm labors under brutal conditions. Disease, ill-treatment, famine, and despair rapidly depleted their populations. But the Taíno were never wiped out completely. Their descendants, often of mixed cultural ancestry, can still be found throughout the world today.
African Slavery and French Colonization
The Spanish colonizers of Hispaniola and much of the Americas rarely worried about the loss of life that followed their arrival. Instead, they focused on extracting profits from the lands they reached and their inhabitants. The Caribbean’s main economy shifted from precious metals to sugar plantations, which required extensive manual labor. As indigenous populations dwindled, Spain and later colonizing empires imported enslaved people, mainly from the continent of Africa. These individuals and families, kidnapped from their homes, were the ancestors of the majority of modern Haiti’s population. They had few if any rights, were denied access to education, and faced lives of hard work, cruel treatment, and poor living conditions.
During the 16th and early 17th centuries, Spain enjoyed its position as the world’s greatest naval and colonial empire. Through conquest and colonial economies, it amassed huge fortunes in the Americas and elsewhere. This led to the famous pirate societies of the Caribbean, eager to prey on passing ships. Collapsing under its own weight, Spain began to lag behind new colonial powers like the English and French. On Hispaniola, French pirate towns sprang up along the western coast, where Spanish influence was at its lowest. These included the notable island city of Tortuga. Over time, the monarchy of France assumed control of the Western half of Hispaniola, forming the colony of Saint-Domingue in 1659.
The divided island of Hispaniola would set the stage for its two modern nations: the Dominican Republic, with greater Spanish influence, and the French-influenced Republic of Haiti.
Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution
Under these conditions, the seeds of the Haitian Revolution took root. Slave rebellions occurred across all of the Caribbean islands, though few were ever successful. In some areas, escaped former slaves established their own free societies, outside the reach of colonial authority. And although most people remained trapped within slavery all their lives, a few managed to gain freedom, education, and wealth. One example of this was Toussaint Louverture, a man born on a plantation in the early 1740s. Born into slavery, Toussaint nonetheless had a free godfather who provided him an education in philosophy, medicine, and other useful skills.
Toussaint gained his freedom in 1776 and continued to work at the plantation of his birth. He even acquired his own small plantation and owned enslaved people himself. But the revolutions of the United States and France inspired him to put his own fortunes on the line. Rather than freedom for all, he initially sought only better conditions for enslaved people. When rebellion broke out in 1791, Louverture rode to join them. He served as a military leader, medic, and negotiator. He allied with Spain and to an extent the British against the French until 1794, when France abolished slavery in its colonies. The switch left Louverture fighting both Spain and, in some cases, his former comrades in arms.
For several years, Saint-Domingue remained a French colony with a newly freed population. Louverture navigated a complex political landscape and emerged as the island’s most powerful figure. He negotiated with Napoleon Bonaparte for greater autonomy for Saint-Domingue. But when negotiations broke down, it seemed further violence was inevitable. Napoleon sent armed forces to Hispaniola to regain control and reinstate slavery on the island. Armed resistance followed. Louverture was captured and deported to France, where he died in prison in 1803.
The Republic of Haiti
Louverture’s untimely death did not mark the end of the Haitian Revolution. Rather, the free people of the island were desperate to avoid a return to the days of slavery. Saint-Domingue erupted into a full-blown War for Independence. The French, beset by debts, disease, and a hostile population, could not hold out for long. Napoleon, in dire need of cash, authorized the Louisiana Purchase to the United States in 1803. On January 1, 1804, Louverture’s successor, Jacques Dessalines, declared Haiti a sovereign, anti-slavery republic. It was the first nation ever founded on a successful slave revolt, and the first to abolish slavery permanently.
Dessalines would briefly go on to be declared the nation’s emperor, but his reign was cut short by assassination in 1806. His reign oversaw widespread massacres of former plantation owners and other people of European ancestry. His successor, Alexandre Pétion, was another influential military leader, who reunited the nation after Dessalins’s death. Pétion served as the republic’s first president from 1807 to 1818.
Since its revolution, Haiti has faced numerous challenges, both internal and external. Foreign debt, damaged infrastructure, and political instability both caused volatility within the nation. A long-standing conflict with the Dominican Republic caused further destabilization. During the 20th century, US occupation was followed by autocratic rule under François Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude. Their persecution of Haitian citizens sparked a diaspora from which the country is still recovering. Then, in 2004, a coup d’etat occurred shortly before a series of disastrous tropical storms, hurricanes, and an earthquake in 2010 that killed an estimated 250,000 people. Despite these tragedies and setbacks, Haiti continues to seek a stable republic and prosperity for its citizens.
References
Dubois, Laurent. Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. The Belknap Press, 2005.
Fagg, John. “Toussaint Louverture | Biography, Significance, & Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Apr. 2021, www.britannica.com/biography/Toussaint-Louverture.
Reid, Kathryn. “2010 Haiti Earthquake: Facts, FAQs, and How to Help.” World Vision, 25 Nov. 2019, www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2010-haiti-earthquake-facts.
Wilson, Samuel. Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus. University Alabama Press, 1990.
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