Founded on December 5, 1492 by Christopher Columbus, the island of Hispaniola was originally inhabited by the Taíno Arawak people. Ayiti, which means “mountainous land,” is a name used by its early inhabitants; the Taino-Arawak people, who also called it Bohio, which denotes “rich villages,” and Quisqueya, which signifies “high land.” The said Taínos were South American Arawaks, with Taíno meaning “the good” or “noble” in their language. Many of the Taíno-Arawak people are extinct but, there are a few survivors that are mixed with African slaves and European conquerors. Columbus on the other hand had to leave 39 of his men being that they settled in La Navidad; because he left his men, enslavement became such an issue since the treatment of
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The French owned the western portion and Spanish owned the eastern portion, while the Spanish neglected its share of the land the French made use of its side of the property, as a result, made the western division one of the richest colonies in the Western Hemisphere, especially when they were exporting sugar, rum, cotton and coffee. On this land there were Europeans that were in charge of political and economic control and the gens de couleur, who were free blacks; though the western portion seems to be flourishing, the harsh treatment of the 500,000 slaves were brutal and it prevented these people from experiencing natural growth. African slave labor was vital to the rise of economic power in Saint-Domingue; with tens of thousands slaves entering this small colony that meant the production of sugar and coffee rising also. Under the French rule they accounted for one-third of the Atlantic Slave trade, by 1789 the slaves outnumbered the free …show more content…
Napoleon Bonaparte who was the ruler of France sent a troop out to capture Louverture and restore the balance that was once there. Louverture was taken and sent to prison where he ultimately died in 1803. Jean- Jacques Dessalines, one of Louvertures generals and also a former slave, led the revolutionaries at the Battle of Vertieres on November 18, 1803 where the French was defeated. They not succeeded in ending slavery but they also end the French control over the colonies. Before the end of this war 100,000 of the 500,000 blacks and 24,000 of the 40,000 whites were killed. On January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared the nation independent and renamed it Haiti. France became the first nation to recognize that Haiti is now independent. Haiti became known as not only “La perle des Antilles” but, as the first black republic in the world, and the second nation in the western hemisphere to win its independence from a European
The French owned the western portion and Spanish owned the eastern portion, while the Spanish neglected its share of the land the French made use of its side of the property, as a result, made the western division one of the richest colonies in the Western Hemisphere, especially when they were exporting sugar, rum, cotton and coffee. On this land there were Europeans that were in charge of political and economic control and the gens de couleur, who were free blacks; though the western portion seems to be flourishing, the harsh treatment of the 500,000 slaves were brutal and it prevented these people from experiencing natural growth. African slave labor was vital to the rise of economic power in Saint-Domingue; with tens of thousands slaves entering this small colony that meant the production of sugar and coffee rising also. Under the French rule they accounted for one-third of the Atlantic Slave trade, by 1789 the slaves outnumbered the free …show more content…
Napoleon Bonaparte who was the ruler of France sent a troop out to capture Louverture and restore the balance that was once there. Louverture was taken and sent to prison where he ultimately died in 1803. Jean- Jacques Dessalines, one of Louvertures generals and also a former slave, led the revolutionaries at the Battle of Vertieres on November 18, 1803 where the French was defeated. They not succeeded in ending slavery but they also end the French control over the colonies. Before the end of this war 100,000 of the 500,000 blacks and 24,000 of the 40,000 whites were killed. On January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared the nation independent and renamed it Haiti. France became the first nation to recognize that Haiti is now independent. Haiti became known as not only “La perle des Antilles” but, as the first black republic in the world, and the second nation in the western hemisphere to win its independence from a European