Today in 1522 The first African revolt in Hispaniola began on a plantation owned by Christopher Columbuss son, Diego. As the revolution dragged on, an ex-slave named Francois Dominique Toussaint Louverture received the backing of the new French Republic to govern St. Domingue. Louverture ruled Haiti as a military dictator, warding off Spanish and British invasions but gradually drifting apart from France at the same time. By 1802, he had taken so much power that Napoleon Bonaparte, Frances new leader, sent in the army to reassert colonial control. However, Napoleons troops were decimated by Louvertures men in a new round of warfare, and fled the island in defeat the next year. On New Year’s Day of 1804, the former slaves declared an independent country named Haiti, only the second colony in the New World to achieve independence after the United States.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 23:14:58 +0000
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