Haiti's Independence Day

Haiti, is the name given to this Caribbean island once the home of the Taino Indians. Christopher Columbus, on his first voyage called it Hispaniola “Little Spain” and new property of the Spanish crown.

Along with his voyage they brought disease, forced labor, etc, to the Taino people.
The Taino peoples population declined rapidly.

As the Native American’s died off, African slaves were brought in and forced to work the cane, coffee fields…forced into the forced labor role within what would be known as the Transatlantic slave trade.

In 1697, the Treaty of Ryswick was signed by the Grand Alliance and part of this treaty ceded the western third of the island of Hispaniola to France.

The French called their new land – Saint-Domingue.

Saint-Domingue quickly became one of France’s most profitable colonies in the Caribbean due to its lucrative sugar and coffee plantations which relied heavily on enslaved African’s labor.

Because of  the brutal conditions of slavery inflicted upon the Taino and then the enslaved African’s, drastic inequities, inhumane conditions, discontent and resistance grew along with an increased slave population to produce leaders like Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe, Alexandre Pétion and many others, to successful lead a slave rebellion that resulted in Haiti declaring independence from France on January 1, 1804, and making Haiti the first independent nation and first black-led republic in the world.