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Haiti The French colonized Haiti, and built huge sugar plantations on the Unfortunately, the former slaves had no experience in government. Slaves had not been allowed to be educated, so almost nobody could read or write. The black government was not recognized by other nations, and the income from sugar production was gone because the sugar plantations had been destroyed in the long war. Many power hungry men who cared little for their people controlled Haiti. From 1908 to 1915, Haiti had fifteen presidents. The United States took control of Haiti from 1915 to 1934, but the Haitians resented the uninvited Americans. The Duvalier family ruled Haiti from 1957 to 1986. Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier was a doctor who specialized in treating malaria. Duvalier ran for the presidency and was elected by the largest majority in Haitian history. Papa Doc's son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier followed his father into power. In 1986, the Haitian people revolted and Baby Doc fled to France, but he managed to leave with millions of dollars from the Haitian treasury. A series of short-lived governments followed, most of which were brutal and incompetent. Haiti held a democratic election in 1990. The winner was Jean-Bertrand Aristride, a former Roman Catholic priest. Seven months after Aristride took office, the Haitian military staged a coup, and Aristride was forced to flee to the United States. The military, supported by drug traffickers, killed more than 3,000 of Aristride’s supporters. The United States invaded Haiti in 1994 and returned Aristride to power, but another uprising in 2004 forced Aristride to flee to Jamaica. |
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fertile Haitian soil. Sugar farming is very hard work, and the plantation owners forced African slaves to work very hard to keep up production. In 1791, the Africans revolted under the direction of Francois Toussaint L'overture. In 1804, after years of bitter and bloody battle, the slaves forced the French to flee the island. The former slaves then formed the first independent black nation. There had been many great black kingdoms in Africa, but never before had a black government replaced a white colonial government.