Port-au-Prince, the country of Haiti's capital, is located in the Caribbean Sea. It became the first sovereign nation with a black president. In the 19th century, it freed itself from French imperial rule. It was the second country in the Americas to achieve freedom after the United States of America. A significant portion of its populace is made up of former slaves from Africa. (Daut 10). Haiti is bordered to the east by the Dominican Republic, to the west and south by the Caribbean, and to the north by the Atlantic Ocean.
Previously known as St. Domingue, Haiti was a colony of France. It was a slave rich country with Plantations and industries booming and successful from the slave labor (Dillon and Drexler 30). By the 1760s it was the most profitable French colony. However, as the rising economic growth brought with it greater exploitation of African slaves who had by now made an overwhelming percentage of the total population.
The Slaves Rebellion.
Haiti was populated and economically driven by slaves. There was a slave system in colonies that regulated the interactions and treatments of the slaves. The slave’s code dictated a harsh treatment and punishments for slaves who showed any resistance to their masters (Daut 67). The slaves’ mortality rate was very high due to abuse and poor living and working conditions (Daut 73). Slaveholders were required to know at least little information about their slaves to protect their wealth. Slave owners were afraid of slaves imported from Africa (voodoo), people of mixed races (mulattos) and the incidence of slaves becoming runaways (maroons) (Sinha 123). However, it was difficult to gather a lot of information from the slaves since they illiterate and could not read nor write.
Being a French Colony the French revolution had a significant impact on Haiti. The whites formed the royalists and revolutionary divide. The mixed-race agitated for civil rights. The slaves of northern Haiti organized a massive rebellion which kicked off on August 22, 1791 (Dillon and Drexler 39). America had a vast stake in slave ownership from Haiti and hence provided support to the whites to push against the slaves’ revolt. As the revolt kicked in, slaves killed enslavers and a xenophobic war broke out leading to the death of many whites and blacks. A good number of refugees escaped to Charleston, Cuba and all other safer corners of the Atlantic (Dillon and Drexler 59).
Haiti, led by a self-educated slave called Toussaint L’Ouverture fought France, Spain, and Britain as well as defeated Napoleon. Haiti became the first and only country to gain independence from a slaves’ revolt (Sinha 29). The first manifestation of the revolt was by the Maroons who were a band of runaway slaves who hid in mountains and forests from which they violently invaded the white’s farms and houses searching for weapons to avenge themselves. The group expanded to a national wide revolution. Toussaint was arrested after Napoleon set bait with a safe negotiating meeting. He later died in prison but his army continued with the liberation war (Daut 65). Six months after Toussaint’s death, Napoleon gave in to the slaves demands and allowed Haiti to its self-independence. The revolution also lead to the doubling in size of United States of America after Napoleon decided to sell the French territory in North America (Dillon and Drexler 103).
On first January 1804, Haiti declared its independence. This marked the end of both slavery and French control over the country. Haitians were now the rulers of the country they were enslaved in. The success of the revolution was unique since there were several revolts across the country waging war against plantation slavery. The French revolution also acted as a catalyst. France became the first country in Europe to officially abolish slavery in its colonies (Dillon and Drexler 68).
Haiti’s Economy Before and During the Revolution
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world and the only one poor in the west. This is the exact opposite of what it was before the slave revolution (Dillon and Drexler 215). In the 18th century, Haiti (formerly known as St Domingue) was the wealthiest France colony. Trade and agriculture were the main economic activities. St Domingue economy was dominated by plantations of Sugarcanes, coffee, and cotton. Sugar and coffee were the two most traded commodities worldwide. Astoundingly Haiti produced approximately sixty percent of all the world’s coffee and over forty percent of all the world’s sugar. To sustain the output and profitability France increased the number of slaves to meet the plantation system needs (Dillon and Drexler 101). We can directly associate the slaves increase to the rise of the revolution. Before the revolution, the country had approximately 500,000 slaves, 32,000 whites and around 28,000 free blacks (Sinha 48). This ratio was necessitated by the greed of the colonialist to continue making outrageous profits from the slaves.
Social stratification was vivid and openly justifiable. It was based on hereditary positions rather than individual merits. Racism brought about the rigidity and was the key to status and property ownership. The whites were at the top and owned most of the property and plantations. They were also allowed to hold public offices. The second in line was the mixed color. These were the light-skinned and the dark-light skinned and free blacks. They were educated and were allowed to own property but could not hold any public office. They owned almost a quarter of all slaved too. The last and the lowest economic class was the slaves. They were of African descent.
The revolution and gaining of self-rule, however, seems to have led to the decline of the county’s former economic prowess. This can be attributed to the destruction of property and infrastructure during the war, lack of investment, turning to subsistence farming as opposed to the successful plantation farming, lack of trade and diplomatic relations, and the reparation debt to France. The country was unable to rebuild Haiti to its former economic level due to their insufficient wealth to promote domestic investment. They also banned foreign investment. This lead to the western nations placing an embargo on Haiti.
Religion
There are several perspectives about the role of religion in aiding the Haitian revolution. There were the Christian Protestants, the Vodou, and the secular. Dillon and Drexler (95) illustrate that the August 14th, 1791 the slave rebellion might have been fueled by a Vodou religious ceremony presided over by a Maroon priest at a plain called Bois Caiman. The African slaves sacrificed a pig in accordance with their Vodou religious ritual.
Protestant Christians interpreted this ritual as demonic and argued that the sacrifice was a dedication of the country to the devil to help them win the revolt war. They also argue that the Vodou religion was an evil one and related to devil worship. According to Sinha (125), the religion and the sacrifice made might be the reason for the poverty bondage of Haiti in the current days. The Vodou perspective is that they came together to make a pact among themselves and not the devil. According to the vodouist, most of the military generals and commanders were also Vodou priests. The leaders not only led the nation to freedom but also spiritual comfort and encouragement (Daut 104).
The vodouist believes that the Vodou religion was the main reason for the liberation of Haiti from the French oppression (Dillon and Drexler 52). Vodou religion was the heritage of the Haitians both spiritually and culturally and was the religion of the majority of the population. The last religious group was the secular or the non-theistic. They firmly believed that the Bois Caiman story was a myth. They insisted that the revolution was a success due to the prominence, skills, and strategies that were possessed in the African soldiers and not the dependency of a Supreme Being or a religious piety (Daut 71).
Conclusion
The Haitian revolution will be remembered as the first and only revolution to be won by slaves against their masters and colonialist. The success of the revolt was based on a combination of factors such as the French revolution, the skewed ratio of African slaves against the whites and the overwhelming number of uprising runaway slaves who were ready for war. Religion is also attributed to the African warrior’s unity. The revolution, however, opened a new stage for Haiti’s economic growth which has gradually deteriorated over the years.
Works Cited
Daut, Marlene L. Tropics of Haiti race and the literary history of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World, 1789-1865. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2015. print.
Dillon, Elizabeth Maddock and Michael J Drexler. The Haitian Revolution and the early United
States : histories, textualities, geographies. Philadelphia: University of Pennslyvania
press, 2016. Print.
Sinha, Manisha. The slave's cause : a history of abolition. New Haven: Yale University Press,
2016. Print.
