The 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, which occurred on January 12, 2010, has brought the nation of Haiti to the forefront of news, conversation, and concern all over the world. Yet many outsiders may not even have know where on the globe this island nation lies. It would now behoove us to know this nation's unique and courageous history.
The Land of Haiti
Haiti is located on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, between Cuba and the Puerto Rico. It shares the island of Hispaniola with Dominican Republic. Much of Haiti is covered with rugged mountains. In fact, its name is an Indian word, meaning high ground.
Colonizers Annihilated Original Peoples of Haiti
The Spanish, led by Christopher Columbus, landed on the island in 1492. Soon after, these Spanish colonizers discovered gold on the island. The Spanish then forced the indigenous peoples of the island to mine the gold and raise food, essentially using the native inhabitants as slaves. The Spanish treated the indigenous people of Hispanioloa so harshly that by the year 1530, most of the original inhabitants of the land had died. But the Spanish colonists persisted in further exploitation of the land—and more people. The Spanish turned to Africa to capture more slaves to mine for gold and toil on the land.
Slaves Imported by Spanish and French
The Spanish, and later the French, colonizers captured African people and shipped them to Haiti, throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. They enslaved these African people. Most of today's Haitian people descended from those slaves. The Spanish deserted Hispaniola in the late 1600’s, leaving it to French and Dutch pirates fighting over its gold. Eventually, France came to control Haiti, and brought in more African slaves, this time to toil on coffee and spice plantations.By 1788, the French had brought so many slaves from Africa to Haiti that there were eight times as many slaves on the island as there were French colonists!
From Slavery to a Free Republic
But the slaves rebelled and fought against their French masters (See www.utexas.edu/cola/orgs/hemispheres). Led by a former slave named Toussaint L’Ouverture in 1790, the enslaved people in Haiti destroyed the plantations and towns controlled by the French. Even over mighty Napolean, whose army captured and imprisoned the brave L’Ouverture, the slaves triumphed. Napolean’s soldiers were weakened by yellow fever. Under the leadership of General Jean Jacques Dessalines, the freedom-fighters defeated the French army in 1803. Haiti proclaimed independence in 1804.
The national anthem of Haiti commemorates the freedom leader, General Dessalines:
Haitian National Anthem La Dessalinienne (The Dessalines Song)
(Justin Lhérisson and Nicolas Geffrard, adopted in 1904)
For our forebears,
For our country
Let us toil joyfully.
May the fields be fertile
And our souls take courage.
Let us toil joyfully
With its victory over the French slavemasters, Haiti became the first black republic in the world. It is this nation, with its history of cruel oppression and courageous victory, that now must struggle to come back from this devastating earthquake. Indeed, may their "souls take courage for their forebears, for their country."
Sources: The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 9. Print.
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13054&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Leah Abramovitz - Laura Bernell, Professional Writer since 1984; Community College Adjunct English Instructor since 1982.
