Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Laurent Dubois
had indeed brought attack dogs—
mastiffs and greyhounds—to terrorize the Taino population.15
The colony was in fact full of haunting reminders of its vanished inhabit-
ants. In Limonade one encountered “with each step, debris of the utensils
of the indigenous people who lived here,” and in Quartier-Morin, “ev-
erywhere you find their bones, their simple but ingenious utensils, their
hideous but sometimes very artistically made fetishes.” On one sugar plan-
tation, each hole dug for the cane turned up “some new vestiges of the ex-
istence of this race now erased from the list of humans.” In the church of
the town of Jérémie, in the Southern Province, a stone carved with the fig-
ures of four seated women, the work of the “natural” inhabitants of the is-
land, had been turned into a bénitier —a holy-water font. Near the town of Les Cayes was a peninsula where it was easy to find “fetishes” left behind by its former inhabitants, as well as small caves they had carved into
the rock, and small figurines made of conch shells. “The regret of the phi-
losopher is awakened,” wrote Moreau, “when he thinks about the fact
that from a people so numerous, there is not one left to enlighten us about
its history.”16
The first site of European conquest in the Americas, Hispaniola became a
pioneer in another way during the sixteenth century. Las Casas had, ironi-
cally, advocated the importation of African slaves to save the brutalized in-
digenous population. Soon imported slaves replaced the rapidly dying in-
digenous ones, serving as laborers in a new industry that supplemented
that of mining. Sugarcane had been brought to the colony by Columbus in
1493, and by the early 1500s the Spanish began establishing the first sugar
plantations in the New World. By the 1530s there were more than thirty
sugar mills in the colony, and by the mid-sixteenth century the annual pro-
duction of sugar reached several thousand tons.17
The capital of Hispaniola, Santo Domingo, flourished, eventually boast-
ing the first Catholic cathedral and the first European university built
in the Americas. From there the conquest of neighboring Cuba was
launched. Soon the Spaniards continued on to the mainland and the con-
quest of Mexico. Hispaniola was soon overshadowed by the treasures un-
veiled, and the opportunities opened up, with the fall of the Aztec and Inca
empires. Having been for a few decades at the center of the new Spanish
empire, Hispaniola was soon consigned to its margins. The sugar economy
s p e c t e r s o f s a i n t - d o m i n g u e
15
in the eastern portion of the island declined by the end of the sixteenth
century. Ginger and cacao cultivation briefly took its place, but by the latter half of the seventeenth century cattle ranches were “the only real commercial endeavor on the island.” Many slaves gained their freedom, and new
slave imports to the colony were limited. By the end of the eighteenth cen-
tury only 15 percent of the population remained enslaved. Meanwhile the
western part of Hispaniola remained for the most part unsettled. The
name of the island’s capital, Santo Domingo, was increasingly used to refer
to the entire island, and the French who eventually settled there in the
early seventeenth century simply translated the name into French, calling
their colony Saint-Domingue.18
During the seventeenth century the French and British successfully
challenged Spanish and Portuguese hegemony in the Americas. Pirates
opened the way for this new phase of European colonization. Throughout
the sixteenth century, ships heavy with silver and gold dug by indigenous
slaves out of the mines of the Americas constantly crossed the Atlan-
tic. These floating treasure chests, often traveling relatively unarmed, were all-too-tempting prey. The Spanish and Portuguese defended their ships
against these marauders, at significant cost, while English and French
mastiffs and greyhounds—to terrorize the Taino population.15
The colony was in fact full of haunting reminders of its vanished inhabit-
ants. In Limonade one encountered “with each step, debris of the utensils
of the indigenous people who lived here,” and in Quartier-Morin, “ev-
erywhere you find their bones, their simple but ingenious utensils, their
hideous but sometimes very artistically made fetishes.” On one sugar plan-
tation, each hole dug for the cane turned up “some new vestiges of the ex-
istence of this race now erased from the list of humans.” In the church of
the town of Jérémie, in the Southern Province, a stone carved with the fig-
ures of four seated women, the work of the “natural” inhabitants of the is-
land, had been turned into a bénitier —a holy-water font. Near the town of Les Cayes was a peninsula where it was easy to find “fetishes” left behind by its former inhabitants, as well as small caves they had carved into
the rock, and small figurines made of conch shells. “The regret of the phi-
losopher is awakened,” wrote Moreau, “when he thinks about the fact
that from a people so numerous, there is not one left to enlighten us about
its history.”16
The first site of European conquest in the Americas, Hispaniola became a
pioneer in another way during the sixteenth century. Las Casas had, ironi-
cally, advocated the importation of African slaves to save the brutalized in-
digenous population. Soon imported slaves replaced the rapidly dying in-
digenous ones, serving as laborers in a new industry that supplemented
that of mining. Sugarcane had been brought to the colony by Columbus in
1493, and by the early 1500s the Spanish began establishing the first sugar
plantations in the New World. By the 1530s there were more than thirty
sugar mills in the colony, and by the mid-sixteenth century the annual pro-
duction of sugar reached several thousand tons.17
The capital of Hispaniola, Santo Domingo, flourished, eventually boast-
ing the first Catholic cathedral and the first European university built
in the Americas. From there the conquest of neighboring Cuba was
launched. Soon the Spaniards continued on to the mainland and the con-
quest of Mexico. Hispaniola was soon overshadowed by the treasures un-
veiled, and the opportunities opened up, with the fall of the Aztec and Inca
empires. Having been for a few decades at the center of the new Spanish
empire, Hispaniola was soon consigned to its margins. The sugar economy
s p e c t e r s o f s a i n t - d o m i n g u e
15
in the eastern portion of the island declined by the end of the sixteenth
century. Ginger and cacao cultivation briefly took its place, but by the latter half of the seventeenth century cattle ranches were “the only real commercial endeavor on the island.” Many slaves gained their freedom, and new
slave imports to the colony were limited. By the end of the eighteenth cen-
tury only 15 percent of the population remained enslaved. Meanwhile the
western part of Hispaniola remained for the most part unsettled. The
name of the island’s capital, Santo Domingo, was increasingly used to refer
to the entire island, and the French who eventually settled there in the
early seventeenth century simply translated the name into French, calling
their colony Saint-Domingue.18
During the seventeenth century the French and British successfully
challenged Spanish and Portuguese hegemony in the Americas. Pirates
opened the way for this new phase of European colonization. Throughout
the sixteenth century, ships heavy with silver and gold dug by indigenous
slaves out of the mines of the Americas constantly crossed the Atlan-
tic. These floating treasure chests, often traveling relatively unarmed, were all-too-tempting prey. The Spanish and Portuguese defended their ships
against these marauders, at significant cost, while English and French
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