Colonial Experience

The colonial experience was one filled with many triumphs and many tears.  In 1770, the town of Saint Dominique had a population of about 500,000, with ninety percent being enslaved and the other ten being whites and free blacks(A).  This caused struggle amongst the Haitians and the native French.  The change of social roles of people of color played a large role in the Haitian Revolution.  In the 1820, Haitian people liberated the city of Santo Domingo(C).

Independence

        Although Haiti became an independent nation, they still had other issues to cover before they could start playing with the playmakers.  They needed to build up their profit to get off of the developing nations list which would allow them to be seen as a legitimate force(A).

Conquest

            The conquest of Haiti began when famed explorer Christopher Columbus landed in what is now known as Haiti and the Dominican Republic in 1492(A).  However, Spain, the country Columbus was sailing for at that time, settled in only the eastern part of the island in the Caribbean.  This left the eastern side open for conquest, which is exactly what the French did(A).  There wasn’t much in the case of conquering the native people because most of the influence came from the French trade and the Africans who were brought to Haiti by the shiploads during the era of the “Triangle Trade Route”, which went from Europe to Africa to the Americas. The French pirates who claimed the land for their own country started establishing Port-de-Paix under, French culture, mainly the language.