Saint-Domingue

Saint-Domingue was France’s wealthy Caribbean colony on the western portion of Hispaniola before the Haitian Revolution. Its plantation economy relied heavily on enslaved African labor.

Plantation economy: An economic system based on large estates that grow crops for sale, often using coerced labor. Sugar and coffee plantations generated the colony’s export wealth.
Hispaniola: A Caribbean island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Saint-Domingue occupied Hispaniola’s western portion.
Toussaint Louverture: A leader of the Haitian Revolution who became governor-general of Saint-Domingue before French forces captured him. His military and political leadership transformed the colony during the revolution.
Haitian Revolution: A revolution from 1791 to 1804 that overthrew slavery and French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue. The uprising turned the colony into an independent state.
Bois Caïman: A ceremony traditionally dated to August 1791 and associated with the start of the Haitian Revolution. It is remembered as a gathering preceding the large-scale uprising of enslaved people.
Sugarcane: A tall tropical grass cultivated for its sucrose-rich stalks, which are processed into sugar. Sugarcane estates were central to Saint-Domingue’s plantation production.
Treaty of Ryswick: A 1697 treaty ending the Nine Years’ War and recognizing French possession of the western part of Hispaniola. It formalized Spain’s recognition of France’s control over the colony’s western territory.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines: A Haitian revolutionary leader who declared Haiti’s independence in 1804 and became its first ruler. He led the final defeat of French forces and the colony’s break with France.
Haiti: A Caribbean country occupying the western part of Hispaniola, founded after the Haitian Revolution. Haiti inherited the territory of Saint-Domingue after independence.
Haitian Revolution of 1791: The mass uprising of enslaved people in northern Saint-Domingue that began in August 1791. The revolt began the conflict that dismantled the colony’s slave society.

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