Critically Examine The Haitian Revolution And Its

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Thursday 20th October 2011 History 111 Assignment Critically examine the Haitian Revolution and its impact on the wider region. The Haitian Revolution represents the only successful slave revolution in history. The great man, the leader of this rebellion was General Toussaint L’Overture. The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic. St. Domingue Slave Revolt, which began in 1791, was successful in achieving permanent independence under a new nation. These revolutions were influenced by the French revolution of 1789, which would come to represent a new concept of human rights, universal citizenship, and participation in government. In the 18th century, Saint Dominigue, as Haiti was then known, became France's wealthiest overseas colony, largely because of its production of sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton generated by an enslaved labour force. There were five different groups in the French Colony. There were white planters -- who owned the plantations and the slaves -- and petit blancs, who were artisans, shop keepers and teachers, those who were free, those who were slaves, and those who had run away. There were about thirty thousand free black people in 1789. Half of them were mulatto and often they were wealthier and more preferred than the petit blancs. The slave population was close to give five hundred thousand. The runaway slaves were called maroons; they had retreated deep into the mountains of Saint Dominigue and lived off subsistence farming. The slaves were never willing to submit to their status and with their strength in numbers with a ratio of ten to one colonial officials and planters did all what they could to keep them under control them. Despite the harshness and cruelty of
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