Haitian Revolution. Blacks murdering white civilians by Unknown author is in the public domain.
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The island of Hispaniola, which is today Haiti, was settled by Christopher Columbus and the Spanish in 1492. The Spanish were in charge of many sugar plantations and they used slave labor to tend the plantations, first using native Taino Indians and then importing slaves from Africa beginning in 1514. A few years later, in 1522, the first of many slave revolts occurred but was quickly stopped by the Spanish.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain focused more on their colonies in Latin America, leaving their guard down on Hispaniola. This allowed the French and British to spread their culture and become acquainted with the area beginning in the early 1600s.
Over time, Saint Domingue's people were divided in to distinct groups. The grands blancs or the white plantation owners held the most power. These people lived lavish lives, wearing the most fashionable clothes from France and living as if they were back in Paris. The free people consisted of 50,000 in charge of nearly half a million slaves with half of these 50,000 being Afro-Caribbean. Below the free people of color were the petits blancs or the poor whites. At the bottom of the system were the slaves.
In 1750, some free people of color began to gain more wealth than the petits blancs. These free people of color owned plantations and some even owned their own slaves. The petits blancs were angered by the fact that some people of color were wealthier than them. They felt oppressed because some free people of color owned slaves while they didn’t.
In 1757, the Maroons, a group of fugitive slaves, at the command of François Makandal began to poison the white plantation owners in the North. Eventually, their plan was leaked leading to the death of François Makandal. He was killed in hopes of disbanding the Maroons but it did just the opposite.
The whites wanted to prevent the free people of color from becoming too powerful and influential so they formed laws that made it harder for the free people of color to succeed in becoming wealthy. Laws prevented free people of color from dressing a certain way, pursuing a medical or law career, and meeting in the evenings. They were still allowed to lend money which proved beneficial to the growth of Saint Domingue's wealth.
With the United States declaring independence from England in 1776, slaves from Saint Domingue aspired to gain independence as well. Furthermore, they were tired of being mistreated and abused by their masters. France attempted to improve the slaves' lives by enforcing the Code Noir, a set of reforms on slave work hours, food rations and slave land rights. Slaves realized that the Code Noir didn’t have a large effect on their lives because the whites were still usually favored in many instances.
Throughout the 1700s, there was unrest between the whites and blacks of Saint Domingue. The whites continued trying to prevent the free blacks from gaining control of Saint Domingue by killing the free blacks whenever possible. In 1790, France granted the Colonial Assembly in Saint Domingue complete legislative power. This gives the planters the ability to interpret who is in support or against the colonists.
In 1790, the Ogé Rebellion led by Jacques Ogé, a French representative of the colony, ends in many lives lost and a failure for the rebels. As a result, Ogé has to flee for his life but he is later found in Spanish Saint Domingue where he is killed. The blacks of the colony are infuriated by the execution of Ogé. They come together, armed and ready to fight the whites.
In the summer of 1791, more and more slaves started to run away from their slave owners to join the Maroons. These slaves started to plan a revolution but not without losing a few members due to the planters' efforts to stop them. The slaves began to attack, burning plantations and killing anyone who stood in their way. The revolution had commenced.
Before the Revolution
In 1640, the French claimed the western third of the island but it wasn’t until 1697 with the passing of the Treaty of Ryswick that France gained ownership of this region. This new French territory became Saint Domingue and its people eventually developed it into a major exporter of coffee and sugar. France imported many slaves each year to support their colonial trade and to replace the many that died.
Christopher Columbus landing on Hispaniola by en: Theodor de Bry is in the public domain.
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Une sucrerie à Saint-Domingue (Haiti) by Élisée Reclus is in the public domain.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:D072-_une_sucrerie_%C3%A0_saint-domingue_-_Liv3-Ch16.png
Hispaniola 1492-1697 by Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa) used under CC BY-SA
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Saint Domingue and Santo Domingo 1697-1795 by Maximilian Dörrbecker used under CC BY-SY
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