The Haitian Revolution was a revolt of enslaved people against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, then the richest colony in the Caribbean, in which sugar and coffee plantations depended on the labor of several hundred thousand enslaved Africans. The uprising began in August 1791, and was led in its later stages by Toussaint Louverture, a former slave who became a skilled general and governor. After Napoleon sent an expedition to restore French control and slavery, Louverture was captured, but his lieutenants, notably Jean-Jacques Dessalines, defeated the French army. Haiti declared independence at the start of 1804, as the first free Black republic and the second independent state in the Americas after the United States. France later demanded a large indemnity as the price of recognition.
Before and after
- 1791Brandenburg Gate
- 23 April 1791Birth of James Buchanan
- 27 April 1791Birth of Samuel Finley Breese Morse
- 3 May 1791Constitution of May 3, 1791
- from 14 August 1791 to 1 January 1804Haitian Revolution
- 22 September 1791Birth of Michael Faraday
- 5 December 1791Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- 26 December 1791Birth of Charles Babbage
- 1792Publication of La Marseillaise
More in Wars, politics & history
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- from 18 June 1812 to 18 February 1815War of 1812
- from 10 May 1857 to 20 June 1858Indian Mutiny of 1857
- from 18 March 1871 to 28 May 1871Paris Commune
- from 25 April 1898 to 11 August 1898Spanish–American War
- from 8 October 1912 to 18 July 1913Balkan Wars
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.