a review: a closer examination of the politics, religion, and economics that shaped the island...

The Spanish controlled the Island of Hispaniola (or as they called it, “Santo Domingo”) from whence it was established. They focused on settling the Eastern side of the island, leaving the western side of Santo Domingo available to settlement by French buccaneers. The buccaneers had originally settled on the Ile de la Tortue (Tortuga), and expanded to the mainland of Santo Domingo (aka Hispaniola/Grande Terre). The Western side of the island became known as Saint-Domingue, and was officially given to the French in the Treaty of Ryswick (1697), which ended the Nine Year's War (Louis XIV's push to expand and cement his Kingdom).

Treaty of Ryswick

Things got organized by men among the buccaneers such as Bertrand d'Orgeron, who recruited many families to Saint Domingue under the pretense of economical prosperity through agriculture, more specifically, in sugar and tobacco. This created the need for irrigation systems, and of course, as stated in the previous blog, need for extensive man-power.

This brings us to one of the most important pieces of legislature in Saint-Domingue history: The Code Noir.

The 1685 “Code Noir” was a 60-article document inspired by the French Minister of Finances, Jean-Baptiste Colbert.





Colonists were well-aware of the fact that they were outnumbered by slaves, and hoped for some kind of legal structure to prevent any sort of rebellion, which -at any scale- would have been difficult to handle.

The articles were ratified by Louis XIV, and contained instructions as to religion (namely, intolerance for anyone -free or not- to practice anything other than Catholicism), treatment of slaves (in the case of insubordination, etc.), restrictions upon slaves (for example, they were not allowed to bear arms, or to sell products they farmed), and rights of freemen.

Blatant disregard for the Code (on the part of both whites and blacks) created an environment of conflict, and Saint- Domingue maintained its high slave-mortality rate. Local landowners began to take matters into their own hands, passing their own restrictions and inflicting punishments of their own jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, in continental France, new documents had been drawn up as a result of the French Revolution. Documents such as, “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen,” contained the phrases, “liberty...and resistance to oppression,” which surely, inspired the actions of slaves in the coming Haitian Revolution. Freemen of Saint-Domingue educated themselves and other on such ideas.

These teachings came to fruition on August 21^st of 1791.

Slaves were led into action by leaders of both the military and the religious persuasions. White plantation owners and their families were so outnumbered, that they were very easily overcome by the violence. Some owners were fortunate enough to be warned by their slaves of the impending attacks, but most were brutally, and fatally effected. Thousands of whites died, and plantations were pillaged; burned to the ground.

In an attempt to preserve the French economical interest in the island, the French Assembly sent 6,000 soldiers onto the isle. The Spanish joined the side of the slaves, and then, the British arrived on the island. Once that happened, some slaves decided to fight for the French, provided that all of the slaves would be granted their freedom. French Civil Commissioner (and abolitionist), Leger-Felicite Sonthonax declared that this would be the case if the French found victory in the battle for the possession of Saint-Domingue. A fore-runner in this group of slaves was Toussaint L'Ouverture.

Toussaint L'Ouverture

Like most, he was a former slave who had originally fought for the Spanish. Under his command, the British expeditionary forces were defeated, and by his hand, (as well as the hands of a few French generals) the slaves were freed on January 3^rd or 1801.

L'Ouverture created the Saint-Domingue constitution, which- among other things- claimed that he would be governor for life. When Napoleon heard of this, he sent an army (led by Charles Leclerq). L'Ouverture was betrayed by his closest allies (namely Jean-Jacques Dessalines), and was captured. He was shipped to France, and died in prison.

 

Jean-Jacques Dessalines



Unbeknownst to L'Ouverture's former allies, Napoleon was intent upon resorting slavery. When Dessalines found out, he deflected back to his original side. On the first day of 1804, -after a trying battle against the French colonial army- Dessalines declared Saint-Domingue's independence, renaming it Haiti.





Sources:  http://www.jacobite.ca/documents/1697ryswick.htm Articles from the Treaty of Ryswick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Images Images

Garrigus, John."Before Haiti: Race and Citizens in Saint-Domingue." [New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002].

http://www.hrcr.org/docs/frenchdec.html Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/335/ The Code Noir



Hispaniola to Haiti: a brief overview of Saint-Domingue History...

Between 1659 and 1804, the nation known today as Haiti, was known as Saint-Domingue...
      

In December of 1492, Christopher Columbus claimed this same Caribbean island, (originally settled by the native Arawaks, Tainos, and Caribs) dubbing it “Hispaniola”- which translates from Latin to English as “The Spanish Island.” The Spanish controlled the Island of Hispaniola until the seventeenth century, when Pirate settlements and trade bases began spreading from the Island of Tortuga (or Ile de Tortue in Spanish) to the somewhat neglected, western side of the Grand Terre (Hispaniola mainland). What with the influx of piracy by French “boucaniers” or “buccaneers,” the Spanish conceded power of the Western-most part of the island to the French government in the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick. It became known as Saint- Domingue.

                                       

An aside:

[The Treaty of Ryswick (shown above) as activated to upon the settlement of the Nine Years War between France and the allies of England, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire (Also known as the Great Alliance). In the treaty, France not only gained full control over Saint-Domingue, also retained the Pondicherry Territory of India and, interestingly enough, the province of Nova Scotia.  Almost Sixty years later, Nova Scotia history plays a large role in the settlement of Acadians in Louisiana, particularly in what are called the “River Road” parishes; a connection to be further examined later in this blog. …but I digress…]

Back to the buccaneers…

Among these swashbucklers and bootleggers, was a man by the name of Bertrand d’Orgeron. His promotion of tobacco planting, combined with the sugar industry supported the economy of Saint- Domingue, which despite being interrupted by the Seven Years War, expanded in the 1760s. In the Eighteenth century, Saint-Domingue became known as the “Jewel of the Antilles,” as it was one of the wealthiest colonies of the French Empire. Other major markets of the economy included: Indigo and Cotton, as well as coffee.

In fact, by the 1780s, Saint-Domingue produced the overwhelming majority of the sugar and coffee consumed by Europe. Amazing, considering the fact that the area is roughly the size of the state of Maryland, as well as the treacherousness of Caribbean-European trade routes.

Of course, this caused a surge in the amount of man power needed to accommodate for the high demand of Saint-Domingue products.

 Nearly 800,000 African Natives populated the area at this time, with an added growth of 40,000 slaves being brought over every year. By my calculation, this would have counted for roughly 96% of the total Saint-Domingue population. An essential enslaved-to-white colonial ratio of 24:1.This dense population presented a number of problems. Unsanitary conditions cause European diseases to spread like wildfire. Yellow fever ran rampant. Slaves were treated cruelly, and talk of rebellion stirred the oppressed population.

On August 22, 1791, a large slave rebellion began (Touched off by the continental French Revolution and led by commanders such as Toussaint L’Ouverture). Within a year, this civil war led to a slave-controlled of Saint-Domingue. They had killed thousands of their former owners, and destroyed nearly 200 plantations.                                                               

Out of concern for their colonial income, France decided to send troops into Saint-Domingue. Slaves had already allied themselves to England (who was currently at war with France as well), and Spain would follow suit in the battle against French government for the Jewel of Antilles and her enslaved population.

The French realized that the only way to avoid military disaster was to free the slaves themselves, abolishing slavery in Saint-Domingue. Finally, in 1794, the French legislative assembly of the National Convention formally declared the abolishment of slavery in their colonial empire of Saint-Domingue.

Saint-Domingue would not be called Haiti until 1804, after Jean-Jacques Dessalines, (a creole who had fought both for and against France in his earlier years as a soldier, in part as lieutenant to Toussaint L’Overture) defeated Napoleon’s army at the Battle of Vertieres during the final course of the Haitian Revolution on November 18, 1803.     
 

Sources:

Gould, Clarence P. "Trade Between Windward Islands and Continental Colonies of France, 1683-1763," Mississippi Valley History Review Vol. 24. (1939). 31 August 2011. 473-490.
 <http://www.jstor.org/pss/1892496>

Sullivan, Blair and Geoffrey Symcox. "Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents." [New York: Bedford, 2005].

Garrigus, John D. "Before Haiti: Race and Citizens in Saint-Domingue." [New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002].