Toussaint L Ouverture: The Haitian Revolution

Toussaint L'Ouverture sparked the Haitian Revolution as a dream of freedom from both slavery and European colonialism. His stand against imperialism created the most successful slave rebellion in history and the second sovereign nation in the Americas.

The Island of Hispaniola, the Jewel of the Caribbean, saw the first European colonization in North America. It was discovered by Christopher Columbus in the late 15th century, and later established as the first outpost of the Spanish empire. The Spanish later abandoned the colony for more lucrative mining prospects when it acquired resource rich territory in South America.

Massive trade throughout the Caribbean enticed French pirates to raid Spanish galleons filled with South American silver

The French took advantage of the fertile land and set up massive sugarcane and coffee plantations which became a vital part of the French economy.

Colonial Saint Domingue society was partitioned into distinct classes based on economic and racial standing. The top of the hierarchy were the Grand Blancs, a group of aristocratic, wealthy white plantation and slave owners who had heavy influence on the colony’s practices and policies.

Grand Blancs made up less than 5% of the colony's population, and several of these males often married women of color who they freed alongside with their children. These people eventually formed their own class of about 25,000 which became crucial to the island's stability. These mixed-race individuals or mulattos were freed, educated and given land by their affluent fathers, but still faced discrimination.

Under the mulattos were the Petit Blancs: a group of around 30,000 white artisans, shopkeepers and tradesmen who could not afford to own slaves. Petit Blancs were infuriated about the amount of rights and privileges the Free-Men of Color had above them which often caused

This was the largest cession of land, covering more than 827,000 square miles, doubling the size of the United States. Haiti sustained the initiative of self determinism thus motivating the American revolution, and proving again that the might of European imperialism could be resisted.

The loss of Haiti led to the demise of Napoleon’s imperial ambitions to building a world empire. The success of his military campaigns was predicated on the wealth of Haiti as a plantation colony. Initially, Bonaparte believed that reinstating slavery in Saint Domingue would restore the depleted wealth of his Empire. The stand against slavery persisted with the revolutionary ideals of personal liberty and fundamental rights for all. The free people of Haiti would never again return to their status of servitude and subjugation. Napoleon did not foresee the strength of free Haiti, and it cost him his ultimate