How Did the French Colony of Saint-Domingue Develop By 1791?

The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804

In this course, Dr Meleisa Ono-George (University of Oxford) explores the origins, development and aftermath of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). In the first lecture, we look at the establishment in the late-seventeenth century of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), and the central role of enslaved African labour in its society and economy. The second lecture then examines the beginnings of the Revolution as a slave revolt in Saint-Domingue in 1791, and the emergence of Toussaint Louverture as its key leader. In the third lecture, we outline the development of the Revolution from 1792-98, focusing particularly on how conflict between France, Britain and Spain influenced its course. The fourth lecture considers the period from 1799-1802, which was marked by Napoleon Bonaparte’s efforts to reassert French control in Saint-Domingue, and culminated in Toussaint Louverture’s capture and exile. In the fifth lecture, we explore the final phases of the Revolution in 1802-03, and the proclamation of the Haitian Declaration of Independence in January 1804. We conclude with a sixth lecture on the aftermath of the Revolution for the new state of Haiti, as well as its longer term historical legacies.

How Did the French Colony of Saint-Domingue Develop By 1791?

In this lecture, we think about the development and key characteristics of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) prior to 1791. We focus on: (i) Spanish colonisation of Hispaniola (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) from the late-fifteenth century, and the genocide of the indigenous Taíno population; (ii) the arrival of French buccaneers in the Caribbean in the 1620s, and their establishment of Saint-Domingue in western Hispaniola following the Treaty of Ryswick (1697); (iii) the development in Saint-Domingue of a highly lucrative plantation economy based on the mass importation of enslaved African labour; (iv) the social structure of Saint-Domingue in the eighteenth century, comprising several classes of white, mixed race and black freemen, and a large majority of enslaved Africans; (v) the huge scale of slavery in Saint-Domingue, absorbing up to 23% of the total trans-Atlantic slave trade; (vi) the limited effectiveness of France’s efforts to regulate the conditions of slavery in its colonies, most notably the Code Noir (1685).