Home   Ceremony du bois Caimam   Independance of Haiti   American invasion   

Located in the Caribbean, between Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica, the island of Haiti is inhabited by two independent nations: the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. When Christopher Columbus made his first landing in the northern part of what is now the Republic of Haiti in 1492, he referred to the people he met on the island as indians, thinking that he had reached India in South of Asia. Quickly, the Spanish occupied the island of Haiti and renamed Hispaniola .In1791, as the whites and the "Affranchis" continued on their war for greater participation in the running of the colony and for equality, the blacks entered into a full- fledge rebellion that would ultimately result in creation of the State of Haiti and the abolition of slavery in the land 

A man named Boukmam, another houngan, organized on August 14, 1971 a meeting with the slaves in the mountain of the North. This meeting took the form of a voodoo ceremony in the Bois Caiman in the northern mountains of the island. However the ideas of the revolution, the ideas of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, had already enflamed the mind of the slaves. The revolution that would give birth to the Republic of Haiti was under way and nothing could stop it. Toussaint Louverture WAS the great leader who emerged out of the mass of the revolted. He proved to be a military genius and a formidable leader. He was governing the whole island by himself and proclaimed himself governor of the colony. He was exiled to France and died in the fortress of the joux high in the cold Alpine mountains of Jura in April 1803.Other leaders of that period would be Alexandre Petion, Francois Capois named " la mort", Henry Chistophe and Boisrond  Tonerre.

Haiti thus emerged into the world as the first black independent republic on January 1st 1804. It's revolution against colonialism and slavery was the first successful black movement resulting into an independent state headed blacks, on January 1 1804 the heroes of the independence, to honor the memory of the indians who had been massacred by the Spanish renamed the island under it's original Taino name, Haiti. Haiti in "Taino" means "High land", "high ground" or" mountains land". Dessalines tried to govern the nation by using the only organizational experience he had acquired through war. He used harsh measures in trying to restore agricultural productivity through the plantation system. Measures were taken to bound laborers to their assigned work. The black majority felt that there was little improvement to their situations. Dessalines failed to please both side as he continued to rely iron fist control. On October 17 1806, he got shot and his body was hacked to pieces while he was entering Port au Prince. After that the country was divided in two republics with Henry Christophe dominating the northern part and Petion the Southern a.

After that we got Boyer succeeded Petion in the west.  Boyer considered France’s refusal to recognize the new nation as an independent country to be the worst threat to the country’s integrity. In 1825, he signed the French ordinance requiring the payment of a 150 million Francs in recognition of the independence. In 1844 a revolution overthrew Boyer from the presidency.

After Boyer, the country went through decades of political instability lasting into the US Occupation of 1915

The United States was more and more interested in the Caribbean. The US wanted to secure naval stations throughout the region as the prospect of a war in Europe loomed closer and closer by the early 1900’s. Words had reached Washington that Berlin was considering setting up a coal station in Mole St Nicholas to serve the German naval Fleet. The United States used the Monroe Doctrine, a policy that opposed European intervention in the Western Hemisphere, and the Roosevelt Corollary whereby the US assured the responsibility for direct intervention in Latin America in order to check the influence of European powers, to invade Haiti in 1915. When in 1915 Haitian president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam executed 167 political prisoners, the US invaded the country using the event as an excuse.

The United States Occupation of Haiti lasted 19 years from 1915 to 1934. They supervised all governmental decisions in the country. They rewrote the constitution revoking the article forbidding foreign ownership of land in the Republic. The US created the Army of Haiti (Forces Armées d’Haiti) whose purpose will be to maintain calm and stability. Over the decades to follow, whoever controlled the Army functionning as police would control the definitions of clam and stability, and how they were to be preserved. In 1934, the last contingent of marines leave the country after a formal transfer of authority to the "Garde Nationale". After the americans left we gotStenio Vincent, Elie Lescot, Estime.Haiti announced its first direct elections under the junta command. Paul Eugene Magloire, an Army colonel, resigned from the junta to be a canditate for the presidency and won. Magloire made the mistake of many before him by discussing a prolongation of his stay in office. Strikes around the country forced him to fly to Jamaica leaving it up to the Army to restore order. A chaotic period follows the fall of Magloire. There were three provisional presidents during the interval. Then, in 1957 Francois Duvalier was elected president of Haiti through an election guided by the military. Duvalier declared himself president for life in 1964.After that his son Jean Claude took over he became president at 19 years old.

After many more military governments, Jean Bertrand Aristide, a young priest who already had a strong ascendancy on the people, agreed to apply for the presidency. As a tradition he was overthrown by a military coup in September 1991, seven months after he had taken office. He came to the US so he can be restored to power. Meanwhile, the Haitian in the Diaspora, mainly in New York, accused the US government of instigating the coup and demanded reparations and the return of Aristide in Haiti. They protested in the streets of New York and every night in front the UN to have their demands granted. In Haiti, Raoul Cedras, the official author of the coup, nominated civilians to the presidency while Aristide negotiated his return in the US. With the election of Bill Clinton the winds were favorable for a return of Aristide to power.

   Top