The Haitian Revolution
1. The _____________ colony in Saint Domingue began in the 17th century as a pirate outpost. Its original French inhabitants made their living selling leather and a kind of smoked beef called boucan.
2. After 1640, the boucan-sellers started to run low on beef and turned to robbing Spanish galleons which as you’ll recall were loaded with _____________mined from South America.
3. By the middle of the 17th century, many of them invested some of their pirate treasure in _____________ and soon this island was the most valuable colony in the West Indies.
4. It produced 40% of Europe’s sugar, 60% of its coffee, and it was home to more _____________ than any place except Brazil.
5. By the 19th century, slaves made up about _______ of the population. Most of those slaves were African born, because the brutal living and working conditions prevented natural population growth.
6. Colonial society in Saint Domingue was divided into four groups, which had important consequences for the revolution.
a. At the top, were the Big White planters who owned the plantations and all the slaves. Often these _____________ _____________were absentee landlords who would just rather stay in France and let their agents do the actual brutality.
b. Below them were the wealthy free people of color; mostly the off-spring of Frenchmen and slave women. These free people of color contributed a lot to the island’s _____________. They served in the _____________, and in the local constabulary, and many of the wealthier ones eventually owned _____________ and slaves of their own.
c. Next on the social ladder were the poor whites, or the _____________ _____________, who worked as artisans and laborers.
d. At the bottom were the _____________ who made up the overwhelming majority.
7. When the _____________ Revolution broke out in 1789, all these groups had something to complain about. The slaves, obviously, disliked being slaves.