Post Slavery History of the Caribbean

            Haiti, a Caribbean country on the island of Hispaniola, has a rich history. Prior to the European and colonial eras, Haiti, like most of the Caribbean islands, was occupied by the Taíno Indians. Eventually, Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain, which began the European infiltration. About 300 years later, the Haitian Revolution began. In short, the revolution was a movement against slavery. It is important to note that it was an extremely successful revolution, which culminated in the formation of the Republic of Haiti. Prior to the revolution, Haiti was under French Colonial rule, which continued to have a lasting effect long after the success of the revolt. French patterns were still present in everyday society even after the revolution. Many people of the "mulatto " descent were the orchestrators of the revolution; however, once the revolution was over, they became the elites in Haitian society. It was very common for white planters to have children with colored women and the children would not be sold into slavery. These free colored children were more like the French colonists that they had fought against than the slaves, which they had fought for. The concentration of wealth and political power created another society in which there was a very clear distinction between the rich and the poor. Politically, the revolution was a complete success. The goal was freedom and that is what was achieved; however, economically, it was a disaster due to the inequality of the distribution of wealth. Furthermore, the abolition of slavery had a negative effect on the economy because Haiti was a major producer of sugar and coffee. Not only did Haiti have an abundance of product, it also had a lot of producers (slaves). Only Brazil had more slaves than Haiti did, which made Haiti a production hub for the French. With the abolition of slavery, all of this production had to be paid for, which changed the entire economic system, and made it less profitable.