A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution was the only successful slave revolt in world history and the first time people of color overthrew a European colonial regime to establish an independent country. This book offers students a concise and clearly written overview of the events of the Haitian Revolution, from the slave uprising in the French colony of Saint–Domingue in 1791 to the declaration of Haiti′s independence in 1804 and the consolidation of the country′s independence in the decades that followed. Drawing on the latest scholarship in the field as well as on the author′s original research, the book presents a chronological account of the complex historical contexts that produced and shaped the revolution, while paying due attention to important underlying themes. A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution is a valuable resource for those studying independence movements in Latin America, the history of the Atlantic World, the history of the African diaspora, and the age of the American and French revolutions.

List of Illustrations vi Series Editor’s Preface vii Introduction 1 1 A Colonial Society in a Revolutionary Era 10 2 The Uprisings, 1791–1793 35 3 Republican Emancipation in Saint–Domingue, 1793–1798 62 4 Toussaint Louverture in Power, 1798–1801 90 5 The Struggle for Independence, 1802–1806 114 6 Consolidating Independence in a Hostile World 141 Afterword: The Earthquake Crisis of 2010 and the Haitian Revolution 167 Recent Scholarship on the Haitian Revolution 171 Notes 178 Index 191

Jeremy D. Popkin is T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History at the University of Kentucky, and is the author of You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery (2010) and Facing Racial Revolution: Eyewitness Accounts of the Haitian Uprising (2008).