Haiti
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Haiti, formerly known as Saint-Domingue, is a Caribbean country in the Greater Antilles. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, sharing it with the Dominican Republic.
History
Pre-Colonial Era
By 5000 BCE the area was inhabited by people who arrived from central or southern America. It would first be inhabited by the Ciboney people, then theTaino people.
Spanish Colony
Haiti was first discovered by Christopher Colombus on December 6 1492. He claimed the island for Spain. The fist Spanish settlement on the island was La Navidad. Simmilarly to other colonies the Taino people started dying off to infectious diseases carried by the Europeans. Soon the area would mostly be abbandoned by the Spanish, and they would be replaced by the French.
French Colony
Saint-Domingue had been a part of France's colonial territories in the New World since 1625, where she shared the island of Hispaniola with the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo. By the middle of the 18th century, the Assassin Brotherhood had established a permanent presence in the colony. Under the leadership of their Mentor François Mackandal, a revolutionary Houngan, the Assassins consisted primarily of African slaves opposing the white colonists of Saint Domingue.[1]
Execution of Mackandal
In 1758, François Mackandal was captured and executed after a failed poisoning attempt on the white colonists of Saint-Domingue. Mackandal's students Agaté and Baptiste both individually fled Saint-Domingue and ended up in the French colony of Louisiana.[1]
Haitian Revelution
By 1793, a revolution had brken out. Toussaint, a a general, had a prominent role, as he began to develop an autonomy from fellow Assassin Biassou, the rebels' commander-in-chief, and had soldiers that answered only to him. As the war went on, Toussaint would win several battles. This made him a hero to the slaves and notorious among the French. As news of impending emancipation grew, Toussaint took on a new name, "Louverture", a symbolic gesture that associated him even closer with the revolution.
In 1794, the French finally granted emancipation to all of its slaves. This prompted Louverture to forego his alliance with the Spanish in exchange for one with the French. He would even become a commander in the French amry. As commander Louverture would defend the island from the invading British. Eventually, Toussaint began to establish his own government and laws, operating alongside the one put in place by the French.
Govenership of Toussaint Louverture
Toussint and his fellow assassinEseosa would drive Templar Jean-Louis Villatte off the island when he attemped to become governer. This would allow Toussaint to become absoulute ruler of all of Haiti. As governer he would attack a neighboring Spanish colony and free its slaves. In the year 1800 he created a constitution for the country which named him govener for life. In 1801 Napoleon sent Charles Leclerc to remove Toussaint from power. In 1802 Leclerc succeeded.
Downfall of Toussaint
Louverture negotiated a treaty with the French. The treaty said that he would be imprsioned in France.. Although Eseosa reached out to the French Assassins for any word of his well-being, he received no reply.
Eventually, the slaves of Hispaniola rose up once again, beginning another revolution; it ended when one of Louverture's former lieutenants, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, attacked and overwhelmed the French forces at Vertieres, forcing the French off of the island. Dessalines declared Saint-Dominque a free republic on 1 January 1804. Having witnessed the cruelty committed by the French colonists, he did not trust them, and began a violent extermination of the remaining white population living on the island, regardless of whether or not they were slave owners.
However, the declaration came too late for Louverture; he had died in a French prison the year before, with the fate of his body unknown even to Eseosa.
Modern History
In 1957, Templar-affiliate François Duvalier was elected President of Haiti, and became responsible for more than ten years of corrupt and murderous leadership. On 21 April 1971, Duvalier was killed by the Assassins.[2]
Trivia
- The names of the French colony Saint-Domingue, and the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, which between themselves divided the island of Hispaniola, both translate to "Saint Dominic", a Spanish friar of the Dominican Order.