| Haiti occupies the western third of the island named Hispaniola ("Little Spain") by Christopher Columbus, who landed there on his first voyage in 1492. Within a generation the original inhabitants, the Taino (Arawak) Indians, were nearly exterminated by Spanish colonizers, who then began importing slaves from West and Central Africa. In 1697 the French acquired the western third of the island of Hispaniola, and for the next century African labor made it the most prosperous colony in all the world. The prime source of wealth was sugar, but coffee, cotton and indigo brought riches as well. In the course of a century, the slave population swelled from a few thousand to nearly half a million. Though the island was ruled by the whip, acts of rebellion began to grow more frequent. The first act of the revolution, according to Haitian tradition, was a Vodou ceremony held by runaway slaves in 1791. In 1804 Haiti became the first nation after the USA to gain independence in the Americas when, after 13 years of fighting, the rebels drove the French out of the country. It was the only slave revolt in history ever to create a nation. The Taino Indians had called the island "Ayiti" meaning "Land of the Mountains," and so it was renamed after the revolution. 'Dessalines Ripping the White from the Flag' by Madsen Mompremier High mountains and the surrounding sea give Haiti its distinctive features. The sea was the highway first for slavery, and then more recently for escape, as thousands of "boatpeople" fled political and economic oppression in small crafts. 200 years ago, abundantly forested mountains hid runaway slaves called Maroons. Today the mountains shelter small villages and farms for corn and coffee. But they are no longer lush, as the woods are being transformed into bags of charcoal, the only fuel source for people flooding the cities. | |
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