Branches Book

BRANCHES

Sophia Stoughton

HISTORY AND RESPONSIBILITY: COLONIALISM’S LEGACY IN HAITI

Hurricanes. Disease. Poverty. Deforestation. Earthquakes. Violence. How can one country be so unlucky to have experienced all these things? Explanations range from “they simply have bad luck” to the outlandish “their ancestors made a pact with the devil.” It’s tempting to blame the struggles of other countries on their inhabitants being less advanced or on simple chance. It’s a convenient way to cover up the roles that other “more advanced” countries have played in creating many of the problems countries such as Haiti experience today. In reality, the cause of Haiti’s struggles is much more complex. A combination of bad geographic luck and a tumultuous history has transformed Haiti from a lush island home to a thriving population to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Just over 500 years ago, the Arawaks were happily living on a beautiful island in the Caribbean. Free from contact with Europe, the Arawaks enjoyed an island abundant in resources and trading opportunities. The Arawaks had a rich culture centered on religion, a stable government, and a unique social structure that helped keep the peace. But no amount of social, economic, or political advancements could have protected them from the arrival of the Europeans. In 1492, Columbus left Spain in search of a new route to Asia. Although his original mission failed, luckily for him (and not so luckily for the Arawaks), he got word of an island filled with gold, spices, and other luxuries. He sailed to the Arawaks’ island and claimed it for the Spanish, renaming it Hispaniola. The Spanish settlers were originally friendly with the Arawaks, but their friendship began to deteriorate when the Spanish started capturing the natives and forcing them to work. The native population began to starve without enough people to cultivate their own crops. The Arawaks were dying rapidly from starvation, European diseases, and being overworked. The population continued to decrease until nearly the entire civilization was wiped out. Spanish colonization of Hispaniola had managed to kill an entire thriving and highly civilized group of people all for the sake of creating a new colony that would soon be abandoned. This was the first in a long series of tragic events to take place in Haiti at the hands of Europeans. After destroying the Arawaks’ civilization, the Spanish lost interest when they discovered new civilizations to ruin and left the island open for the French to colonize. French pirates took Spain’s disinterest in the colony as an

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