Haiti Mexico South America

 Enlightenment thought  American Revolution  French Revolution  Slave trade

 French colony occupying the western third of Hispaniola  Largest and valuable island in the Western Hemisphere  Perfect climate for sugar, coffee, and cotton plantations  Produced 30% of the world’s sugar and 50% of coffee  Trade with the island accounted for ½ of France’s foreign trade and equaled that of the United States  500,000 slaves lived and worked on the island  In 1791, 100,000 slaves rose up

Former slave Property owner Led slave uprising Guerilla tactics

French perspectives of revolution

Haitian Perspective

 French government grants freedom to slaves  Consolidated mulatto/slave forces defeat foreign invasion under TLo by 1800

Napoleon reinstitutes slavery and attempts to reconquer the island

French army torches island and slaughters inhabitants Never able to pacify whole island Malaria and yellow fever devastate French forces French forces withdraw in 1803 and island declared independent in 1804 United under Jean Jacques Dessalines Leclerc’s, the commanding general, letter to Napoleon regarding the situation on St. Domingue “50 prisoners have been hung; these men die with an incredible fanaticism; they laugh at death; it is the same with women…it appears to me from the orders that you send me that you have not got a clear idea of my position here…It is not enough to have taken away Toussaint. Here is my opinion. You will have to exterminate all the blacks in the mountains, women as well as men. Except for children under twelve. Wipe out half the population of the lowlands, and do not leave in the colony a single black who has worn an epaulet…Send 12,000 replacements immediately, and 10 million francs in cash, or St. Domingue is lost forever.”

 Cry of Dolores launches revolution against the Spanish  Padre Morelos keeps fighting after Hidalgo’s execution  Iturbide, a Creole officer fighting for Spain, defeats Morelos in  1820 – Revolution led by Iturbide and the creole class defeat Spanish  Why would Iturbide revolt?  1821 – Spanish independence

Build up to internal revolution

Santa Anna Benito Juarez Porfirio Diaz

Spanish and Portuguese Colonies

Brazilian Independence

 Napoleon’s influence  Royal family fled Portugal for Rio de Janiero in 1807  Post 1815 the royal family returned to Portugal  Son (Dom Pedro) stayed behind to rule  Brazilian creoles wouldn’t accept a return to colonial status  Petition to have Dom Pedro independently rule Brazil  Independence was granted bloodlessly in 1822