The French Revolution In Haiti
Haiti splits the island of Hispaniola with its neighbor, the Dominican Republic in the Greater
Antilles of the Caribbean Sea. Established by Spain in 1492, control of Haiti was ceded to the
French and the island began to flourish under its new rulers. The slave trade played an enormous
part of the country's history, at the time accounting for nearly a third of the entire slave trade across
the Atlantic. Controlled for years by the French, "Haiti – then called Saint–Domingue – was the
Pearl of the Antilles, one of the richest islands in France's empire. In the 1780s, Haiti exported 60%
of all the coffee and 40% of all the sugar consumed in Europe: more than all of Britain's West Indian
colonies combined," (Henley, 2010). It wasn't until nearly ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
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Due to the ongoing French Revolution back at home, the war ended in 1803. The French simply
could not afford to be fighting two wars at once. On January 1, 1804, the first, and only, country
born of a slave revolt, was born. However, this was not the end of French involvement. France
demanded 150 million francs in reparations for the war in order to be recognized as a republic. Von
Tunzelmann, a contributor to the article by Henley, said that "...Haiti was paying reparations to
France from 1825 until 1947. It took out huge loans from American, German and French banks. By
1900, Haiti was spending about 80% of its national budget on loan repayments. By the time the
original reparations and interest were paid off, the place was basically destitute and trapped in a
spiral of debt," (Henley, 2010). Tired of dealing with a failed government, another revolution began
in 1911. This revolution led to a long period of US occupation. Following failed dictators, regimes,
and governments, François ¬"Papa Doc" Duvalier became the leader of Haiti in 1957. His regime
was one of darkness, death, and oppression, considered one of the worst in the history of the
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