Haiti Declares Independence
On 1 January 1804 Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed the independence of Haiti—a name drawn from an indigenous Taíno word for the island—making it the first Black republic in the world and the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere after the United States. The declaration came after the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon's expedition under General Leclerc, which had failed both militarily and to the ravages of yellow fever. Dessalines ordered the massacre of the remaining white population and established a personal dictatorship before being assassinated in 1806. Haiti's independence terrified slaveholding powers throughout the Atlantic world and resulted in decades of diplomatic isolation and punishing indemnities demanded by France.
- Year: 1804 CE
- Category: Political
