Haiti's Long Tragedy

The island of Hispaniola, which today contains the two states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, had the misfortune to be "discovered" by Christopher Columbus in 1492. The native Taíno peoples called the island by various names, including Ayiti, Bohio, and Kiskeya. The vast majority of the natives would be wiped out in the following years, succumbing to disease, murder, and slavery.

During the 17th century, the Spanish withdrew to the east of the island in order to defend their capital of Santo Domingo, and the French established colonies and took over control of the western part of the island, which they called Saint-Domingue. This is why today, the official language of the Dominican Republic is Spanish and the official languages of Haiti are French and Haitian Creole (a french derivative).

In the 18th century, Saint-Domingue was an extremely profitable colony, exporting millions of tons of sugar and later coffee. Late in the century the colony was producing 40 percent of all the sugar and 60 percent of all the coffee consumed in Europe. The labour used to produce these commodities was provided by 800,000 African slaves. As many as 40,000 slaves were "imported" annually at one point, in order to replace those who had been killed or worked to death.

Shortly after the French Revolution of 1789, as many as 400,000 slaves rose up and the Haitian Revolution began. After more than 10 years and roughly 100,000 casualties, the former slaves achieved liberation and the independent Republic of Haiti was established. This was the only successful slave revolt in the New World, although hundreds of rebellions were fought.

During the early 19th century, there were many power struggles in the new republic, with Alexandre Pétion eventually becoming the first President of Haiti in 1806. He was a large supporter of democracy for most of his tenure, and he engaged in land reform and promoted educational programs. He also gave sanctuary to Simón Bolívar in 1815 and provided arms and troops to aid in Bolívar's fight for independence from Spain.

In 1825, France stationed 14 warships off Port-au-Prince and under this military threat, an agreement was reached where Haiti agreed to pay France 150 million francs (later reduced to 60 million) and in exchange France would recognize its independence. Because Haiti did not have these funds, France agreed to loan the government 30 million francs to order to make their first payment. In other words, Haitians was forced into indebtedness in order to pay reparations to France for liberating themselves. These payments had a devastating effect on Haiti's economy. The debt to France would not be repaid until 1879.

During the late 19th century, Haiti finally began to recover and develop its economy. Constitutional government was established and new industries were setup. For a period, Haiti was considered a model for economic growth in the region. Unfortunately, though the debt to the French government had been paid, Haiti had also incurred new debts to US and French banks. During a period of political instability in the earth 20th century, American investors expressed concern that their debts might not be repaid. The US responded by sending in the Marines and began an occupation of the country in 1915.

The US immediately took control of the government, including banks and the national treasury. They then used a full 40 percent of all national income to repay debts to US and French banks. Many Haitians rebelled against US rule, and thousands were killed. While the occupying government did improve some of the infrastructure, they also enforced segregation and destroyed the exiting French-style Liberal Arts education system, and replaced it with one focused on "vocational training". The US would eventually leave in 1934, though they maintained control over external finances until 1947.

The dictator François Duvalier ("Papa Doc") came to power in 1957 in an election viewed by many as rigged. His rule was viewed as one of the most repressive in the hemisphere and as many as 30,000 Haitians were murdered by death squads. While the US initially criticized some of his actions, they also wanted an anti-communist ally in the region, and Duvalier was able to exploit this to his benefit. After his death in 1971, his son Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") came to power. Strongly supported by the US, he would continue the repression of his father. He was finally ousted in a popular uprising in 1986.

Throughout the 20th century, Haiti became massively deforested. In 1923, over 60 percent of the country was forested, by 2006 this was under 2 percent. Originally the country was covered almost completely by forest. The first stage of deforestation happened during colonial times, when much of the land was cleared for slave plantations. Much of the rest occurred under US occupation, or under repressive governments supported by the US. Some of the wood was logged by or for Western companies and exported. WIth little economy, and extreme poverty, many of the remaining trees have been cut down in order to build shacks or simply to use to cook food.

Haiti's history is a sad and depressing one. It is a tale full of genocide, slavery, extortion, invasion and occupation, resource theft, and severe repression. It is a cruel joke that a country that has endured so much, and has so little ability to deal with catastrophe, must endure even more suffering. It is heartbreaking and unfair. All we can do is to provide as much aid and support as possible, without any strings or conditions, or political manoeuvring. We owe them much more than that, but that is the very least we can possibly do.