Branches Book

BRANCHES

opportunity to begin making settlements on the western part of Hispaniola. The French were officially given the land in the 1690s, and it became known as Saint-Domingue, a French colony filled with French people France didn’t want. This included people unhappy with French rule, prostitutes, criminals, and orphans. Unsurprisingly, these people did not make for a great start to the new French colony. While the colony was extremely beneficial to France, it ruined the island and its future for years to come. The French settlers began to bring over indentured servants from France to help them grow sugar. The work was so difficult that the indentured servants were dying, and constantly bringing them over from France proved to be inefficient. Instead, they began to import African slaves. Saint-Domingue’s nickname, the Pearl of the Antilles, rang true for some; the colony produced a huge revenue for France. But for the slaves, the work was strenuous and their life expectancy was a mere 21 years. The French settlers had to continuously import new slaves to replace the ones who had died. Towards the end of the 18th century, nearly one third of the slave trade was going to a tiny island colony known as Saint-Domingue. Its entire economy relied on the suffering of the slaves. In addition to causing human suffering, French colonial rule had a very negative impact on the environment. The French deforested a large portion of Saint-Domingue so it could be used to grow sugar. Current day Haiti has so much deforested land that nothing is holding the soil together. This multiplies the effects of natural disasters and leaves little room for farming. The border between Haiti and its neighbor, the Dominican Republic, is defined by the lack of trees. France’s rule over Haiti, although it generated a lot of revenue for France, led to the loss of many lives and the destruction of a previously lush environment. Haiti won its independence from France through the Haitian Revolution, a long series of battles lasting from 1791-1804 that left the country in ruins. Slavery had been abolished in France during the French Revolution but was still legal in the French colonies. The abolishment of slavery in France inspired many of the slaves in Saint-Domingue to fight for their own freedom. In 1791, groups of slaves revolted against plantation owners in different locations across the island. After conflicts between the slaves and plantation owners, as well as between plantation owners of different races, the Spanish and British saw Saint-Domingue’s instability as an opportunity to take some of France’s power and invaded the colony. After Toussaint L’Ouverture, a prominent leader of an army of former slaves, sided with the Spanish, the French recognized they were outnumbered and decided to abolish slavery in all French colonies. As the French had hoped, L’Ouverture and his army switched alliances to the French. The French, along with the former slaves, succeeded in defeating the Spanish and British, and L’Ouverture was granted

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