History Of Haiti

   History of Haiti

     From 1697 on, the western part of the island was French, and the eastern part was Spanish. Haiti became one of the wealthiest of France's colonies, producing vast quantities of sugar and coffee, depending on enslaved Africans to provide the labor. Inspired by the message of the French Revolution, the enslaved Haitians rose up in revolt  in 1791, and after decades of struggle, the independent republic of Haiti was officially proclaimed in 1804.

Only 1804 after 500,000 slaves revolted, Haiti became the first black republic to declare independence. But for years of political corruption, violence, and a debilitating annual hurricane season have turned Haiti into one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean. On January 12, 2010 a magnitude earthquake hit the country, there were more than 230,000 people that were killed. A year later, more than one million people remained displaced within the capital, Port-au-Prince, living under tents and tarps in terrible conditions that fostered a cholera outbreak. Even before the earthquake took the lives of so many, Haiti was estimated to have 380,000 orphaned children.

In 1843, a revolt, led by Charles Riviere-Herard, overthrew Boyer and established a brief parliamentary rule under the Constitution of 1843. Revolts soon broke out and the country descended into near chaos, with a series of transient presidents until March 1847, when General Faustin Soulouque, a former slave who had fought in the rebellion of 1791, became president. He purged the military high command, established a secret police, and eliminated mulatto opponents. In August 1849, he grandiosity proclaimed himself as Haiti's second emperor, Faustin I. Soulouque's expensive ambitions led him to mount several invasions of the Dominican Republic. Despite its rich military and political history Haiti still suffers from political instability.