Saint-Domingue

French colony, West Indies

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July 15, 2026

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Saint-Domingue was a French colony in the West Indies, located on the western third of the island of Hispaniola. It became France's most prosperous New World possession, exporting sugar, coffee, cacao, indigo, and cotton. By the 1780s, it was a major center for French foreign investment. The colony's economy was built on the labor of enslaved Africans, who vastly outnumbered the European colonists and free people of mixed descent. This deeply stratified society, marked by racial and class divisions, was a significant factor leading to the Haitian Revolution in 1791. The revolution ultimately led to Haiti's independence in 1804, making it the first free black republic.123

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Haiti
Plantations and enslaved people
…to France, which renamed it Saint-Domingue. The colony’s population and economic output grew rapidly during the 18th century, and it became France’s most prosperous New World possession, exporting sugar and smaller amounts of coffee, cacao, indigo, and cotton. By the 1780s nearly two-thirds of France’s foreign investments were based on…
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…to France, which renamed it Saint-Domingue. The colony’s population and economic output grew rapidly during the 18th century, and it became France’s most prosperous New World possession, exporting sugar and smaller amounts of coffee, cacao, indigo, and cotton. By the 1780s nearly two-thirds of France’s foreign investments were based on…
Read More

history of Latin America
The north and the culmination of independence
…the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue. Beginning in 1791, a massive slave revolt sparked a general insurrection against the plantation system and French colonial power. The rebellion developed into both a civil war, pitting blacks and mulattos against whites, and an international conflict, as England and Spain supported the white…
Read More
…the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue. Beginning in 1791, a massive slave revolt sparked a general insurrection against the plantation system and French colonial power. The rebellion developed into both a civil war, pitting blacks and mulattos against whites, and an international conflict, as England and Spain supported the white…
Read More