Independent Haiti
The French deported Toussaint Louverture to France, and brought in more than 20,000 new troops under the Vicomte de Rochambeau in an effort to regain control of the colony and re-establish slavery. Jean Jacques Dessalines led the fight to defeat French forces. The French withdrew their 7,000 surviving troops in late 1799; most fatalities had occurred as a result of a yellow fever epidemic among its forces; the disease was endemic on the island. As leader, Dessalines declared the independence of Saint-Domingue with its new name of Haïti in 1804.
In 1806, Henri Christophe learned of a plot to kill Dessalines; seeing an opportunity to seize power, he did not warn the self-proclaimed Emperor. Alexandre Pétion, a competing leader who was a "gens de couleur," was said to be behind it. As a mixed-race man, Pétion was suspect by the mostly African and black majority of residents. But, this allegation has not been proven; other sources clear Pétion's name from the plot and say that he was associated with it only because of rivalry between the blacks and gens de couleur in society. Dessalines was assassinated, and Christophe was elected to the newly created position of president, but without real powers.
Read more about this topic: Henri Christophe
Famous quotes containing the words independent and/or haiti:
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“For four hundred years the blacks of Haiti had yearned for peace. for three hundred years the island was spoken of as a paradise of riches and pleasures, but that was in reference to the whites to whom the spirit of the land gave welcome. Haiti has meant split blood and tears for blacks.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)