CAUSES of the HAITI revolution and main CONSEQUENCES

When talking about the origin of liberal revolutions history tends to always talk about those that took place in France and the United States, forgetting an equally relevant one that was key to the future of the colonies and slavery, this being the one that took place in Haiti. To learn about this enormous revolution and its importance in history, in this lesson from a Professor we are going to talk about the Haitian revolution: causes and consequences.

Like any revolution, what happened in Haiti was the consequence of a serious crisis in numerous aspects that caused the population to rise up in arms against the great existing inequalities, this being the reason why in this section we must list the numerous causes that led to the beginning of this key event in history world. The causes of the Haitian revolution were the following.

Slavery problems

Like much of the Caribbean islands, Haiti's economy was based on the slavery, being essential for the production of products such as sugar, cocoa or coffee. In this situation, Haiti became one of the

most profitable colonies in the world, causing the slaves to have more and more work and their situation was more complicated and harsh. The mortality The number of slaves was increasing, either due to excessive work but also due to diseases such as malaria or yellow fever.

Appearance of the maroons

The serious slave crisis caused many of these they fled to the jungle and became the so-called maroons, being rebel slaves that they lived as they could and that sometimes they attacked the slaveholders for food and supplies. The appearance of the maroons was the beginning of the formation of large rebel groups that they fought slavery and with the passage of time they would be the base of the slave revolts.

Demographics

The need for labor to continue producing the sugar necessary for sale to Europe made the slave population will increase rapidly, causing that in a short time their number was much greater than that of slavers. Although hundreds of murders and castrations were carried out for punishment, this was not enough and in one point the number of slaves was 10 for each slave owner, causing a rebellion to be very feasible.

Social inequalities

Another cause of the revolution in Haiti is the great social inequality that existed. In the mid-18th century, landowners began to create a rigid social class system so that blacks and mulattoes were not equal before the law as whites, causing a huge contradiction regarding the races, since sometimes the differentiation between certain classes. This situation created a huge hatred between blacks and mulattoes against whites, since they thought that so much discrimination was not fair.

The influence of the French Revolution

Shortly before the start of the Haitian revolution, the so-called French Revolution, being a liberal revolution that having taken place in the metropolis of Haiti had an enormous influence on the thought of the colony. The ideas of the revolution and that all people were equal, including slaves, made Haitians look favorably on the illustrated ideas.

To continue this lesson, we must list the consequences of the Haitian revolutioní and that brought the independence of this region. The main consequences of the Haitian revolution were the following:

• Independence of Haiti: he was able to defeat France, causing independence to form the new nation of Haiti and expelling the French colonial government from the island, forming the so-called First Empire of Haiti.
• Violence did not end with victory in war, but shortly after the massacre of 1804 took place in which many French and Creoles who had remained in the region were killed by the natives who hated everything that had to do with the French.
• Influence other slave rebellions: The rebellion was an example of a radical revolution and also the only one in history that was carried out by slaves, being an event that we can only find as examples similar events in the Ancient Age being an example the rebellion of the gladiators in Rome. There were many attempts at slave revolutions in many parts of the American zone, but none had the effect that the Haitians did.
• Slavery was abolished, being one of the first regions to fully achieve this feat.
• Stopped the Napoleonic invasion: It is considered that the freedom of Haiti blocked Napoleon's plans to take the United States, since his idea was to do so from the island that was still a French colony.
• Country for exiles: Haiti served for years as a base for people exiled for their political ideas, especially by Mexicans at the time of independence.
• Revolution that influenced personalities: Among the people most influenced by the revolution we find revolutionaries like José de San Martín, but also to anti-racism leaders like Malcolm X who show that the importance of the revolution was maintained during decades.