ABSTRACT
The events of 1789 really did change the Western world. The French Revolution of that year collapsed the French monarchy, brought down the power of the Roman Catholic Church in France, and reordered the agrarian structure of the country. Haiti, the western part of the island of Hispaniola, was taken by the French in 1679 and proved to be an extraordinarily successful sugar-producing region for more than a hundred years. In 1822, Haiti annexed the Dominican Republic, an arrangement that lasted until 1844. Haitian–Dominican relations have been strained ever since. In 1937, in what’s come to be known as the “Parsley Massacre,” thousands of Haitian agricultural workers were killed by Rafael Trujillo, the cruel dictator of the neighboring Dominican Republic. The Haitian Revolution provides some important lessons and “firsts” for Latin American history. It was the first successful independence revolution in the region, and Haiti became the first independent black republic in the world.
