Haiti occupies the Western third of the island of Hispaniola.  It shares this island with the Dominican Republic.

The Caribbean islands were populated by a series of migrations of Aboriginal people from the mainland.  When Europeans arrived, the Aboriginal people who lived on Hispaniola were known as Taino.  They were related to the Caribs and Arawaks of the Lesser Antilles and South America.

Christopher Columbus established the settlement of La Navidad in 1492, on the north coast of what is now Haiti.  It was one of the first European settlements in the New World.  Despite resistance from the Taino population, the island was eventually conquered by Spain.

After subduing the Taino, however, the Spanish neglected their colony.  The number of Spanish settlers remained small and the colony remained underdeveloped.  Spanish neglect made the island an ideal base for foreign pirates.  These privateers preyed on the Spanish galleons as they passed the island.

Many French privateers established themselves on the Western part of Hispaniola, in what is today the Republic of Haiti.  Unable to dislodge the French, the Spanish ceded the western third of the island to France in 1697.

The French colony on Hispaniola was known as Saint-Domingue.  French colonists developed intensive plantation agriculture on their side of the island, growing sugarcane, coffee and indigo.  At its height, St. Domingue supplied 40% of Europe’s sugar and 60% of Europe’s coffee (1).

The plantation system was very profitable for plantation owners and merchants in particular, and for the French Empire in general.  Agricultural production in the colony, however, was dependent on slave labor.  The majority of the people in the colony were slave laborers of African descent.  The ruling class used brutal methods to maintain control over the slave population.

The slave system broke down during the French Revolution.  Revolutionary conflicts spread from France to the colony.  The division of the free people in the colony gave the slaves a chance to win their freedom.  In 1791 a large slave rebellion broke out in the colony.  In 1793 slavery was abolished in the colony.  Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former slave, emerged as the champion of the French cause, defeating British and Spanish invaders.  Toussaint went on to become Governor of the colony.

When Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in France, he wanted to re-establish slavery in St. Domingue.  Dispatching an army to St. Domingue, Napoleon managed to capture Toussaint and have him imprisoned in Europe.  Toussaint’s Lieutenants, however, rebelled against Napoleon and his plans to re-introduce slavery.  Napoleon’s army was defeated and the colony of St. Domingue declared itself the independent Republic of Haiti in 1804.

The country’s first leader was Jean-Jacques Dessalines.  Dessalines crowned himself emperor of Haiti.  His increasingly autocratic rule culminated in his assassination in 1806.  After Dessalines’ death, rival claimants for leadership split the country into two.  The north was a kingdom ruled by Henri Christophe, while the south was a republic ruled by Alexandre Petion.  When Petion died, he was succeeded by Jean-Pierre Boyer.  After the death of Christophe, Boyer reunited the country.  Boyer went on the conquer the Spanish side of the island.  Boyer was also able to secure international recognition of Haiti through the payment of a large indemnity to France.

After the overthrow of Boyer in 1843, the country endured a long period of instability.  There were a series of short-lived governments into the early 20th century.

In 1915, American forces used a coup as a pretext to invade the country.  They occupied Haiti until 1934.  The American invasion was motivated by a desire to protect American economic interests.  The Americans rewrote Haitian laws to allow for more foreign (American) control over the economy.

The withdrawal of American troops in 1934 ushered in another period of political instability.  The new American-trained army emerged as a major player in Haitian politics during this period.  In the 1950s, a medical doctor named Francois Duvalier rose to power.  Duvalier, known as ’Papa Doc’, was able to counterbalance the power of the military with a rural militia known as Tonton Macoutes (’the Bogeymen’).  Despite human rights abuses, Duvalier’s repressive regime was able to establish political stability.  Duvalier was one of the few Haitian leaders to die in office of natural causes in 1971.  He was succeeded by his young son, Jean-Claude, known as ‘Baby Doc’.  In 1986 mass protests over food shortages convinced Baby Doc to flee the country.

In the 1980s, a Catholic priest named Jean-Bertrand Aristide emerged as a populist leader.  Aristide was elected President in 1991, but was quickly overthrown in a military coup.  In 1994 U.S. President Bill Clinton sent in troops to restore Aristide to power.  U.S. help, however, came with certain conditions.  Aristide was pressured to conform with the American economic agenda.  Aristide was elected again in 2000.  In 2004, however, he was overthrown by an uprising.  This uprising involved former members of the military, which Aristide had disbanded in the 1990s.  It has been alleged that the rebellion was supported by foreign powers, including the United States, France and Canada.  Aristide and his supporters have accused American forces of coercing him to resign and forcing him to leave the country.  After the ousting of Aristide, Haiti was occupied by United Nations peacekeepers.  Rene Preval became President in 2006.  In early 2010 Haiti was hit by a large earthquake that caused a great deal of damage to the capital and exposed the weakness of Haiti’s government and infrastructure.

Citations

(1) Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus.  Slave Revolution in the Caribbean 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents.  Boston, Mass.: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006., p. 8.