ABSTRACT

In 1791, the greatest slave revolt in human history erupted in the French colonial territory of Saint-Domingue (today’s Haiti). The slave trade had turned Saint-Domingue into the jewel in France’s colonial crown, producing nearly one-third of the world’s sugar. The twin forces of rampant mortality among slaves and burgeoning global demand for their products resulted in a constant influx of human chattel – such that by 1791, fully half the slaves on the fertile Northern Plain had been born in Africa. These same forces, however, when combined with the cultural and linguistic bonds among the slave population, contributed to the success of the organizing efforts that produced the uprising.