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Home , Hispaniola, History of Haiti

“ is a story. We can’t explain the current situation without looking back to history.” —Pere Michel

•Here we present a drawn from many sources, but mostly from the outside world. You will see that many countries and people have influenced the history of Haiti. This is important to understand.

•However, you won’t see here the true stories of the people of Haiti, the men and women and children who live in the country. For that, we will have to dig deeper.

•We do share some quotes from about their history. You can hear their voices in “Haiti in Context” at http://konesans.org.

1492. Columbus lands in Haiti or .

When Columbus and his crew anchored off the coast on December 5, 1492, native Taino people lived on the island, which they called Haiti, meaning “mountainous land.” Columbus renamed the land Hispaniola, meaning “little .” 1540. Taino population decimated. When Columbus landed, there were about 500,000 Taino people living on the island. Although Taino people first approached the Spanish with gifts and had no weapons, they were massacred, enslaved, or killed by or other diseases that arrived with Spanish settlers. Within 50 years, the Taino were gone, leaving only some artifacts behind. The Spanish began importing African slaves for labor. 1697. Spain cedes land to . French pirates landed in Northern Haiti in 1625 and began waging war with the Spanish and displacing them on the western third of the Island. Spain and France were also at war in until they signed the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 in the Netherlands. In this treaty, the land that became modern day Haiti was ceded to the French, who called it Saint Domingue. 1697-1804. France’s “Pearl of the .” St. Domingue was the richest colony in the French , built upon the work of 500,000 African slaves who produced , cotton, indigo, and coffee, and who cut down the forests in Haiti to provide wood for Europe. This colony was responsible for about 40% of France’s foreign trade. Slaves were worked fiercely; one third of the newly imported slaves to the colony died within their first year there. 1804. Haiti becomes independent. Not long after the and the American Revolutionary War, Haiti’s slaves began to fight for their independence in an organized way in 1791. In a chaotic war that involved the Spanish, British, and French armies and shifting alliances, former slaves succeeded in winning their freedom. On January 1, 1804, Haiti became the first black independent republic. French King Charles X Haiti’s President Jean-Pierre Boyer 1800s. Haiti pays (again) for independence. The newly independent Haiti was not recognized by many nations who feared slave uprisings in their own borders, including the US, which did not recognize Haiti for 60 years. In 1825, France sent troops back to re-conquer Haiti. Haiti’s President was forced to pay France 150 million francs (about $22 billion today) in exchange for France’s recognition of Haiti’s independence, reparations for France’s lost slave trade. Haiti became the poorest country in the and experienced 22 changes in government. With huge interest payments to US and French banks, Haiti only finished paying this debt in 1947. 1915-1934. US occupies Haiti. After a series of coups in Haiti and threat of anti-American leadership, US occupied Haiti “to protect American and international interests,” although the publicly stated reasons were to “re-establish peace and order.” American leadership ensured that 40% of Haiti’s economy went to repay debts in the US and France, re-wrote the constitution, and used forced labor to improve the infrastructure of the country. After the occupation ended, dictatorships supported by the American-trained military would lead for the next 50 years. Left: The Duvialiers. Right: Baby Doc, made using the faces of the men he sent to death.

1957-1986. Duvalier dictators rule Haiti. In 1957, a respected doctor, Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier, was elected to the presidency on a populist and black nationalist platform and with the backing of the military. He used force, violence, and corruption to consolidate power, expelling foreign bishops and inciting a wave of emigration by educated Haitians. After a series of rigged elections, Duvalier became President for Life. When Francois died in 1971, his son, Jean Claude, or “Baby Doc” succeeded him until he was ousted in 1986. 1987-2010. A new constitution and new leaders. In 1987, the people of Haiti approved a new constitution, although the military continued to control the leadership. In 1991, a former priest, Jean Bertrand Aristide, won two-thirds of the vote to become president. He attempted some serious reforms but was overthrown by a coup in the same year. In 1994, the US military was able to peacefully restore Aristide as president, as long as he agreed to free-trade policies. Aristide disbanded Aristide Preval the military and established a police force. In 1996, his term ended and Rene Preval was elected to be the next president. Aristide was re-elected to the presidency in 2000 and served until he was ousted by a rebellion in 2004, perhaps with US involvement. The United Nations stationed peacekeepers in Haiti in 2004, and Preval was re-elected in 2006. 2010. A series of natural disasters strikes Haiti. On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, killing 220,000 and leveling homes, schools, churches, and government buildings. In October, there was an outbreak of cholera, and in November, Hurricane Tomas caused severe floods. November also saw violent protests against forces thought to be responsible for bringing cholera to the country. 2011. Remembering and rebuilding In January, events around the country and around the world remembered the earthquake and the losses. Efforts to rebuild continue, but are slow. Only 5% of the rubble from the quake has been cleared, and only a fraction of the money promised has actually been spent on aid. “Each time we say the history of Haiti, remember it’s the history of the world we’re speaking of. The history is not separated from the history of the US. It’s not separated from the . It’s not separated from the history of France. It’s not separate from the history of Turkey. Maybe you don’t see it directly. But remember, why did they send to look for here? Because the Pope, at that time was the only power and Europe lost a lot of wealth and riches in the crusades against the orient, so they needed to re-establish their economic system. We have to say this because they don’t talk about this in the children’s history books. They needed to continue their commerce and trade with China that had silk and spices, but the Arabs were blocking them through what they were using, so they had to continue to get around the world all for a matter of wealth. So this is how they washed up here in Haiti. So, China is a part of all of this. So the history of Haiti crystallizes, encapsulates the history of the whole world.” -Djaloki “The strategy of mawonaj, in my humble opinion, is a strategy of making a system function without being seen. Women played a very significant, strong role in the history of Haiti, even if they weren’t always the ones armed in battle. You see, mawonaj isn’t just the act of going to hide in the mountains, in grottoes, in holes. Mawonj is to install, in the middle of a colony, a working system of information. Where advice and communication can pass without the foreigners and colonists detecting the slightest thing…I’ll give you a story. Dessalines (a Haitian general in the revolution) found himself in a trap… Remember, generally the colonials had servants. There was a woman serving coffee to Dessalines. In serving him coffee, there was a message, and Dessalines fled. There was a message in the look. It’s extraordinary. We don’t need to talk. That’s mawonaj. Or, we talk and seem to say nothing, but information is passed. There were so many passwords, tools of communication. The colonials couldn’t control it.” -Pierre Richard “We must understand, when speaking of the occupation, be it the colonials or be it the Americans, an occupation remains an occupation. It’s with ferocity. They treated their compatriots like they weren’t humans. The way they treated our brothers and sisters like animals. The spirit of the coloniser, be it the French colonial period or the American occupation, it’s the spirit of the coloniser that we must understand, the spirit of interference and the spirit of contempt that they held for the people in the era of the occupation. There is no sympathy or humanity in the occupation. My impression is that when they came, it wasn’t really to help us. It was to regulate our affairs. They came to impose their politics, be it economically or politically, not to help. And that’s what they continue to do, not just in Haiti but around the world.” -Pere Michel “We have a Haitian proverb. Listen to it well. This proverb contains wisdom. There are thousands of years of wisdom contained in it. You will never finish knowing one proverb. You’ll study it until you’re a white haired old person, and you’ll still be learning a little more each time. The proverb says: the one who makes the hit forgets, the one carries the scar remembers. “ -Djaloki “There is not any past that is finished and over with and so what we call the history of Haiti or the history of the world is not contained in a book. It’s in our food, in our money, in our suffering, in our hope and dreams, in our relationships with other people, in our politics, in agriculture, in the climate, in education, in the way we speak, the way we think, what makes us afraid. The history of Haiti is present and living in each molecule in the land, in the earth.” –Dja Image: The border between Haiti (left) and the (right)