Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
In time, the buccaneers began to cross to the western side of
Hispaniola to hunt for cattle and wild boar, and some settled
there, assuming they would be safe because of the area's relative
remoteness from the Spanish capital city of Santo Domingo.
By 1670 the buccaneers had established a permanent
settlement at Cap-Francois, now Cap-Haitien (see fig. 11). At
that time, the western third of the island was commonly
referred to as Saint-Domingue, the name it bore officially after
Spain relinquished sovereignty over the area to France following
the War of the Grand Alliance, which officially ended with
the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.
French Colony of Saint-Domingue, 1697-1803
More French citizens arrived in Saint-Domingue in the
1720s. They hoped to get rich by farming indigo, coffee, or
sugar and then to return to France. Many succeeded in their
goal. By the mid-eighteenth century, this territory, largely
neglected under Spanish rule, had become the richest and
most coveted colony in the Western Hemisphere. Between
1783 and 1789, agricultural production on the island almost
doubled, creating more wealth than the rest of the West Indies
combined, and more than the United States. Sugar was the
principal source of its wealth. Saint-Domingue produced 40
percent of the sugar imported by France. The colony played a
pivotal role in the French economy, accounting for almost twothirds
of French commercial interests abroad and 40 percent
of foreign trade.
This flourishing economy was based on slavery. The first
African slaves were brought from Portugal and Spain, but by
1513, shipping lines had been established exclusively for slaving,
and its victims were imported directly from Africa.
Although most of the slaves came from West Africa, their origins
were diverse, representing at least thirty-eight regions in
Africa and 100 tribes. With time, Saint-Domingue became the
principal slave-importing island in the West Indies. According
to historian Moreau de St. Mery, who wrote in 1797, based on
census figures there were 452,000 slaves in Saint-Domingue in
1789 out of a total population of 520,00—the remainder consisted
of 40,000 whites and 28,000 affranchis (free men and
women of color) or descendants of affranchis. Between 1764
and 1771, 10,000 to 15,000 new slaves arrived in Saint-
Domingue annually, while countless others died at sea en
route. Most who survived the crossing subsequently perished in
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