Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

AFRICAN SLAVES IN THE French colony of Saint-Domingue
rebelled against their French masters, defeated a powerful
Napoleonic military force, and founded the independent
nation of Haiti in January 1804. This overthrow of a government
by slaves is the only such revolution in history. It also
made Haiti the second oldest independent nation in the Western
Hemisphere, after the United States. However, since this
auspicious beginning, Haitian history has seen perennial political,
economic, and racial problems.
Haitian rulers have emulated the French colonial system.
They have exploited racial, religious, and class differences, and
retained armies and personal security forces to control the
population and remain in power. At various times they have
favored either blacks or light-skinned Haitians (mulattoes),
Roman Catholics or voodooists, the elite or the masses, each at
the expense of the other.
As a consequence of the French colonial legacy, Haiti has
had a history of dictatorial leaders who have defied constitutions,
ruled through reliance on their military and security
forces, and often come into power or left it through violent
means. Of the few presidents who were popularly elected, such
as Dumarsais Estime (1946-50), Francois Duvalier (1957-71),
and Jean-Bertrand Aristide (1991-95), only the last named left
office voluntarily after completing his term of office. The popular
revolt that deposed President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier
(1971-86), the military coup that deposed President
Aristide in 1991, and the United States/United Nations actions
that reinstated Aristide in 1994 suggest that violence continues
to be the usual route to change.
Spanish Discovery and Colonization, 1492-1697
The island of Hispaniola (La Isla Espahola), which today is
occupied by the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic,
is located about eighty kilometers from Cuba, 200 kilometers
from Jamaica, and 1,120 kilometers from the United States.
Haiti has an area of about 27,750 square kilometers, comparable
in size to the state of Maryland. Evidence exists of human
habitation in Haiti as early as the fourth millennium B.C. by
people of Central American origin. The Taino emerged as an
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