History of Haiti

Republic of Haïti

Official Name: Republic of Haïti
Motto: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
Area: 27.750 Km2
Capital: Port-au-Prince (Largest city)
Official Languages: French, Haitian Creole
Population: 9 801 764
Ethnicity: Black (95%) Mulatto and White(5%) notes: Haitian constitution specifies:
( All Citizens must be known as "Black" regardless of skin color)
National Bird: Hispaniola Trogon
National Flower: Hibiscus

President: Michel Joseph Martelly
Prime Minister: Laurent Salvador Lamothe
Independence: January 1st, 1804 (from France)
National Anthem: La Dessalinienne
Currency: Gourde
Religions: Roman Catholic (80%), Protestant (15%), other (2%),Voodoo as sole religion (3%) Voodo as a secondary religion (98%).
Area Code: 509
Internet Code: .ht

The recorded history of Haiti began, on December 5^th 1492, when the Portuguese navigator Christopher Columbus discovered an island, on what is called today the Caribbean Sea. The discovery of the Island was accidental; Santa Maria, the flagship, had sank on Môle Saint Nicholas, a town located on present day Haiti's northern coast. He claimed it for the Spanish Crown and named it "La Isla Spañola". It was populated by a group of people who called themselves Taino and/or Arawak, both meaning

"The Nobles" in their language. They numbered over 3 millions. They also had a name for their land; they called it Ayiti. (Land of high mountains). They also called it in some parts, Quisqueya (Mother of all Islands) and Bohío which meant (The rich villages).

On top of it all, the Arawaks already had a very well structured society, divided among 5 Caciquats or Kingdoms. Higuey, Xaragua, Maguanà, Maguà and Marién.

Xaragua, the south-west part of the Island was the result of an emergence of two small Caciquats. Zui and Yaquimo; it became the largest part of the Island. Each Caciquat had a Cacique as their leader. As a matter of fact, it was one of the Caciques, Guacanagari, who helped Christopher Columbus build the first settlement in the New World; the latter will name it La Navidad, Christmas, because it was founded on Christmas day. Christopher went on to note on his journal.

"I have ordered a tower and fortress to be constructed and, a large cellar, not because I believe there is any necessity on accounts of the natives"; he continues." I am certain the people I have with me could subjugate all this island...as most of the population are naked and without arms and very cowardly".

But, Bartolomé de-las Casas, a priest who traveled with Christopher Columbus, would later described the people of Spañola as follow in his book. "

"I have declared and demonstrated openly and concluded, from chapter 22 to the end of this whole book, that these people are humans, so far as is possible by the natural and human way and without the light of faith had their republics, places, towns, and cities most abundant and well provided for, and did not lack anything to live politically and socially, and attain and enjoy civil happiness...and they equaled many nations of this world that are renowned and considered civilized, and they surpassed many others, and to none were they inferior. Among those they equaled were the Greeks and the Romans, and they surpassed them by many good and better customs. They surpassed also the English and the French and some of the people of our own Spain; and they were incomparably superior to countless others, in having good customs and lacking many evil ones"

The Taino/Arawak nation was mainly of peasants, poets dancers and musicians. They called their musicians Areytos and they were known to have regular festivals.

Never in their life had the Tainos seen ships as big as the Spanish's, or new type of animals such as horses and dogs; the Spaniards also impressed them with some very powerful weapons. Much more effective than the Tainos would ever have. They were so impressed by everything, that they considered the Spaniards "gods", and they brought them the best they had; crops, parrots, handcrafts and most importantly, gold.

The same gold that would later be the cause of their complete genocide.

They didn't know the true value of this precious metal; they used it to make eating utensils, and because they were shiny, they also used them as ornaments. The Spaniards were happy to see that the natives didn't seem to have a problem sharing. Christopher Columbus soon realized, that it was easy to find gold, virtually anywhere in Spañola. He went back to Spain in order to bring proof and ask the King and Queen of Spain, to finance a much bigger trip to Spañola, and of course the rest of what is known today as the Americas. He described the Island of Spañola and its People as follow to the King and Queen: Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castille.

"Spañola is a miracle. Mountains and hills, plains and pastures, are both fertile and beautiful... the harbors are unbelievably good and there are many wide rivers of which the majority contain gold... there are many spices, and great mines of gold and other metals...

I cannot believe that any man has ever met a people so good-hearted and generous, so gentle that they did their uttermost to give us everything they had.

When leaving the Island for Spain, Christopher Columbus left a few of his men behind; at La Navidad; about 36, to keep an eye on things, only to find them all slaughtered upon his return with 13.000 more men the following year; and La Navidad, burn to the ground.

The Taino were famously peaceful; so what could had possibly caused them to kill the Spaniards? Well, after the departure of Christopher Columbus, the Tainos quickly realized, that these men were not "gods". Christopher Columbus found a journal of one of his soldiers; Guillermo Coma, with a passage explaining what had happened.

"Bad feelings had arisen and had broken out in warfare, because of the licentious conduct of our men towards the Indian women, for each Spaniard had five women to minister his pleasure."

The Spaniards raped their women and reduced most of the men to slavery; greedy to find more gold. But Caonabo, who was the husband of the Queen of Xaragua, Anacaona; plotted against them and killed them all. He would later be captured, imprisoned, then shipped to Spain; the ship transporting him, would sink before making it to Europe.

The Taino/Arawak population quickly decimated. Not only did the Europeans introduced new infectious diseases to which they had no cure for. Diseases such as smallpox, typhus, influenza, measles, diphtheria; the natives also were not used to the harsh treatments they were subjected to. Before, they only cultivated just enough to feed their small villages, now they had an additional 13.000 mouths, plus they were impelled to work long hours under the sun; digging mines in search of golds and other precious metals; forcefully converted into a new religion; Catholicism; and when they refused they were tortured. Guacanagari, one of the caciques famously quoted before escaping:

"I'd rather eternally burn in hell, than to go to a heaven where I would find people of your kinds"

By 1517, the natives went from 3 millions to less than 10.000. Many died while fighting against the ruling of the Spanish. They were far from being "cowards" as Christopher Columbus perceived. Most died defending their land and their families. Thankfully, one famous battle made it into modern history to prove it.

The Vega Real Battle

After 3 years of continuous brutalization, enslavement and deaths of the Taino/Arawaks by the Spaianrds; 1495, Caonabo join forces with the Cacique of Magua who was also his brother: Guarionex, in order to chase the Spaniards off the Island. Together they rallied over 300 men, armed to the teeth with their bow and arrows; spears and other primitive defense materials, ready to fight, but the Spaniards' army, although over matched by the Natives, were heavily armored with some of the world's most powerful weapons at the time and, easily won the battle. The man-eating dogs, and horses they brought along, made the defeat of the Natives even easier.

Caonabo was among the marginal who survived the bloody battle; his brother Guarionex didn't make it. Caonabo escaped, but vowed to continue the fight for the freedom of his people till his death.

Almost immediately after loosing the Vega Real Battle, Caonabo and his wife Anacaona were already looking for more men, to fight another battle, he wasn't about to give up.

Both Christopher Columbus and, Ojeda de Ovando who was the leader of the small Spanish army, feared that the Taino/Arawaks would never give up their fights for freedom as long as a man like Caonabo and Anacaona were around. He invited the King and Queen to a so called "peace meeting"; he asked them to come alone, only the leaders were necessary at such a meeting he said. But as soon as Caonabo and his Anacaona arrived, the men of Ojeda de Ovando, captured them. Caonabo was put on ship en route to Spain, as for Queen Anacaona, she was hanged.

The Beginning of Slave Trade

By 1517, the Spaniards realized that the remaining Natives were not enough to continue the hard labor they've subjugated them to; in just 15 years, their rapacity succeeded in the complete genocide of the peaceful Taino/Arawak population. Labor shortage and greed forced the Spaniards to begin the importation of men and women from the African Continent. But, the collapse of the Taino/Arawak civilization, was also the beginning of the collapse of the Spaniards' interests in Spañola, although thousands of slaves were being imported to work the remaining mines, they turned their attention to new found possessions in Mexico and Peru, both very reputable for the varieties of lucrative metals buried underneath their soil.
Spañola was transformed into a trading post for gold and silver convoys.

French Colonization

As Spain started to show disinterest in Hispaniola, some French buccaneers established a settlement on the Island of Tortuga, off of Haiti northern coast. After just a couple months, many English and Dutch pirates followed and together they formed a lawless territory, pirating the Spanish ships and hunting wild cattle that became abundant since their introduction to the Island by Christopher Columbus. By 1663, French settlement expanded to the western coast of the Island, and the town of Leogane, former Spanish town named Yaguana at the time, was claimed for France.

By 1664, the French established a chartered company: Compagnie des Indes Occidentales (French West India Company). In less than 6 months, the company grew considerably; 45 vessels were equipped and they acquired exclusive commercial privilege in Seignory and Acadia of Canada, the Antilles, Cayenne and, a huge part of South America; from the Amazon in Brazil to the Orinoco in Venezuela. When France realized the continuous growth of the company, and the benefits it could commercially get from the tiny Island of Hispaniola due to its' geographical position, it formally claimed control of the western portion , and chose Port-de-Paix as its capital.
After many unsuccessful battle to regain control of the western part of Hispaniola, on September 20, 1697, Spain officially ceded the western third of the Island to France by signing the Treaty of Ryswick. France named its part Saint Domingue; the unbroken rule of France in Haiti began.

With the encouragement of then King Of France: Louis XIV, the growing of tobacco, indigo, cotton, coffee and cacao began on the fertile northern plain, the most fertile in the entire Island of Hispaniola and, slaves were imported from Africa to work the fields. The economy of Saint Domingue gradually expanded; by 1767, Saint Domigue became the richest colony in the world, and was called the pearl of the Antilles due to its wealth.
Saint Domingue exported 72 millions pounds of raw sugar and 51 millions pounds of refined sugar. 40% of all sugar consumed in all Europe; 1 million pounds of indigo, 2 millions pounds of cotton and, 60 % of all the coffee consumed in the entire world. The Colony employed 1.ooo ships and 15.000 sailors. Indeed, by 1788 Saint Domingue, roughly the size of the current US state of Vermont, became a thriving economy. Its exports reached 214 millions francs. In today's money: (U$ 1,084,440,000) larger than that of the US at the time.. It became the jewel of the French Colonial empire and supplied France with over half of the wealth it derived from all its colonies combined! The livelihood of as many as 25 millions inhabitants of France, depended directly on the colonial trade centered in Saint Domingue.

This extraordinary productivity depended on the brutally coerced labor of some 800.000 slaves, ruled by a mere 32.000 white french masters. 1/3 of the world's slave trade was being shipped to Saint Domingue.

The Code Noire

During French colonization, Saint Domingue was populated by 3 classes of inhabitants, divided by the color of their skin. The white colonists at the top, the mulattoes and free blacks in the middle; the black slaves at the bottom. The lowest class was mainly of Africans born, they outnumbered the other races by a ratio of 10 to 1. Due to poor living conditions: Overwork, inadequate food, clothing, shelter and medical care, the death rate among them were extremely high, as a result new ones were constantly being imported to keep the balance; over 400.000 every month. The slaves conditions in Saint Domingue were worst than in all the other colonies. It was the most brutally efficient colonies of the era. As important as Saint Domingue was to France, the french masters did everything in their power and beyond to make sure that Saint Domingue remained the most productive in the world. Here's a passage from Henry Christophe's personal secretary after the independence who had been a slave for more than half of his life, describing the atrocities of the french masters towards the slaves:

"Have they not hung up men with heads downwards, drowned them in sacks, crucified them on planks, buried them alive, crushed them in motards? Have they not forced them to eat shit? And have they not flayed them with lashes, have they not cast them alive to be devoured by worms, or onto anthills, or lashed them to stakes in the swamp to be devoured by mosquitoes? Have they not thrown them into boiling cauldrons of cane syrup? Have they not put men and women inside barrels studded with spikes and rolled them down the mountains sides into the abyss? Have they not consigned these miserable blacks to man-eating dogs until the latter, sated by human flesh, left the mangled victims to finish off with bayonet and poniard."

In 1685, then king of France Louis XIV passed the Code Noir (Black Code), a decree defining the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire and the activities permitted by free Negroes.
The document comprised of 60 Articles and specified the following:

Jews cannot reside in the colonies.
Salves must be baptized in the Roman Catholic Church
No other religion can be exercised other than Roman Catholic
Slaves masters must be Roman Catholic
Non-Catholic subjects must not interfere with the Catholic practices of other subjects
All colonial subjects and slaves must observe Catholic holidays regardless of their own faith and no one must work on Sundays and on holidays
Slaves markets must not not be held on Catholic holidays
Only Catholic marriages would be recognized
Married free men will be fined for having children with their slave concubines, as will the slaves's concubine's master. If the man himself is the master of the slave concubine, the slave and child will be removed from his ownership. If the man (free blacks only) is not married, he should be then married to slave concubine, thus freeing her and the child from slavery.
weddings between the slaves must only be carried out with the master's permission.
Slaves will not be married without their own consent
Children born between married slaves are also slaves, belonging to the female's slave masters
Children between a male slave and a female and a female free woman are free, while children between a female slaves and a free man are slaves
slaves should not carry weapons except by permission of their masters for hunting purposes
Slaves belonging to different masters may not gather at any time under any circumstances
Slaves should not sell sugar cane, even with permission of their masters
Masters must give food (quantities specified) and clothes for their slaves even if they are sick or old
A slave who strikes his or her master, his wife, children and/or mistress will be executed
Fugitive slaves absent for one month shall have their ears cut off and be branded. If they are absent for an additional month, one of their hamstrings will be served and they will be branded again. If they are absent for up to three months, they shall be executed
Masters of freed slaves who give refuge to fugitive slaves will be fined
Masters may chain or beat slaves, but may not torture or mutilate them (it's up to you to define torture)
Masters who kill their slaves will be punished (by a fine)
Slaves are community property and cannot be mortgaged and must be equally split between the master's inheritors, but can be used as a payment for a debt or bankruptcy , and otherwise sold
A slave husband and wife and their prepubescent children are not to be sold separately
Slaves masters 20 years of age (25 without parental permission) may free their slaves
Slaves who are declared to be sold legatees by their masters or named as executors of their will, or tutors of their children, shall be considered as freed
Freed slaves are french subjects, even if born elsewhere
Freed slaves must show special respect to their formal masters and their family members
Freed slaves have the same rights as French colonial subjects
Fees and fines paid with regards to the Code Noir must go to the royal administration, but one third will be assigned to the local hospital.

Bois Caiman

Toussaint L'Ouverture

"Another Side of Haiti"®