Social Studies: Haitian Revolution in Dates

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Battle between Polish troops in French service and the Haitian rebels.

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1789: Saint-Domingue (former French colony, now Haiti), produces of 40 percent of the world's sugar and is the most profitable colony the French own and is in fact the wealthiest and most flourishing of the slave colonies in the Caribbean. The lowest class of society was enslaved blacks, who outnumbered whites and free people of color by eight to one.

1791: Inspired by the French Revolution and principles of the rights of men, free people of colour and slaves in Saint-Domingue and the French and West Indies pressed for freedom and more civil rights.

1792:

• French government sends three commissioners with troops to try to reestablish control.
  
• Slaves control a third of the island.

1793:

• France and Great Britain go to war, and British troops invade Saint-Domingue.

1794:

• Toussaint L'Ouverture fought for the Spanish crown but agrees to fight for the the French if they free all the slaves.

Under the military leadership of Toussaint, the forces made up mostly of former slaves succeed in winning concessions from the English and expelling the Spanish forces. In the end, he essentially restores control of Saint-Domingue to France.

1798:

• Toussaint defeats a British expeditionary force, and leads an invasion of neighboring Santo Domingo, freeing the slaves there by 1801

1 January 1804:

• Former slaves proclaim the independence of Saint-Domingue. They declare the new nation be named Haïti, to honor one of the indigenous Taíno names for the island.

July 1825:

• King Charles X of France sends a fleet of fourteen vessels and thousands of troops to reconquer the island. Under pressure, President Boyer agrees to a treaty by which France formally recognizes the independence of the nation in exchange for a payment of 150 million francs (the sum was reduced in 1838 to 90 million francs).

Sources: Wikipedia