Empire · since 1804 · Southern North America
Haiti
The French colony of Saint-Domingue was the richest in the Caribbean, producing sugar and coffee with the labour of about half a million enslaved Africans. In 1791 they rose in revolt, and under the formerly enslaved Toussaint Louverture they ended slavery and fought off Spanish, British and French armies.
When Napoleon tried to restore slavery, Jean-Jacques Dessalines led the final war and on 1 January 1804 declared independence, naming the country Haiti. It was the first free Black republic and the only nation born from a successful slave revolt. Haiti was split for years between Henri Christophe's northern kingdom and a southern republic, then united under Jean-Pierre Boyer, who also ruled the whole island from 1822 to 1844. A crushing indemnity demanded by France in 1825, foreign interventions and dictatorships kept it poor.
- Years
- since 1804
- Capital
- Port-au-Prince
- Greatest extent
- 1822, about 76,000 km²
- Region
- Southern North America
The whole island of Hispaniola, ruled from 1822 to 1844
Legacy
The Haitian Revolution inspired enslaved people and independence movements across the Americas and helped push Napoleon to sell Louisiana.
Rulers
- Toussaint Louverture 1791–1802
Leader of the revolution; captured by the French
- Jean-Jacques Dessalines 1804–1806
Declared independence and ruled as emperor
- Henri Christophe 1807–1820
King of northern Haiti from 1811
- Jean-Pierre Boyer 1818–1843
Reunited Haiti and ruled all Hispaniola
- François Duvalier 1957–1971
Papa Doc, brutal dictator
Realms on the map
- Haiti 1792–1802
- Empire of Haiti 1805–1858
- Republic of Haiti since 1821