ABSTRACT
At the outbreak of World War ii the days of classic colonialism in the Caribbean had long since passed. By then, the classic decolonisation process had also come to an end. Around 1800 the slaves in the French colony of Saint-Domingue had not only successfully gained their liberty from the local planters, but they had also become independent from the distant mother country. A unique history: Haiti was the second nation, after the United States, to break with its metropolis; the first state not governed by white Europeans or their descendants; the first state to abolish slavery. Around 1900 Cuba had liberated itself from Spain after four centuries of colonial regime. In the intervening century Santo Domingo, the neighbouring country of Haiti, had also struggled from Spain’s grasp to become the sovereign Dominican Republic. In many respects Haiti had led the way in the modern history of the Americas. The Dominican Republic and Cuba were already lagging behind in this regional pattern – all other Latin American countries had thrown off the colonial yoke at an earlier stage. The first three Caribbean nations shared a classic pattern of colonialism and decolonisation. To their mother countries they had been of eminent importance. Both France and Spain had waged bloody and costly wars in the vain hope of preserving these colonies. This chapter of history had long since ended by 1940.
