Review Questions and Answers on the Haitian Revolution
1) Who first discovered Haiti for the Europeans? What did he name the island and what native peoples
lived there? What were the Spanish and French sides of the island named then? Today? (Christopher
Columbus. He named it Hispaniola or Little Spain, the Taino Indians lived there, but died out from
European diseases and harsh labor conditions, Spanish side of the island was called Santo Domingo
and is now called the Dominican Republic, the French side of the island was called Sainte Domingue or
today, Haiti).
2) Why did the Europeans import African slaves to the island? Why did the island become the most
profitable colony for France? (due to the extermination of the Taino, Europeans needed workers for
their plantations. The colony was so profitable because of its sugar production).
3) Describe the major class divisions in Haitian society at the time of its revolution. Which was the
largest class? (Rich plantation owners, “Petite Blancs” or white townspeople, “mulattos” or half
French/half African, African slaves, maroons or slaves who escaped to the mountainside. The largest
of these classes were the African slaves).
4) Who was the hero of the Haitian Revolution who died in a French prison before Haiti’s independence?
What did his name indicate? (Touissant Louverture. His name, Louverture or “overture” was because
he was so skilled in finding “openings” in enemy lines)
5) Who led Haiti to independence from France in 1804? Why were the French defeated? What was the
irony about one of the reasons for their defeat? (Jacques Dessalines. The French were defeated as
much by a yellow fever epidemic than as by the slave rebellion. This was ironic because yellow fever
had been brought to Haiti by the African slaves and in turn killed off the French there).
6) What were three reasons that the Haitian Revolution was significant? (It was the only, successful
slave rebellion in history. It resulted in the second independent republic in the western hemisphere. It
prompted Napoleon to sell the Louisiana Territory to the U.S.)