Haiti Emigration and Immigration

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Immigration to Haiti

  • In 1492, Christopher Columbus left 39 men on the island of Hispaniola (which became Haiti and the Dominican Republic), who founded the settlement of La Navidad. Relations with the native peoples, initially good, broke down and the settlers were later killed by the Taíno.
  • The western part of the island was thus gradually settled by French buccaneers; among them was Bertrand d'Ogeron, who succeeded in growing tobacco and recruited many French colonial families from Martinique and Guadeloupe.
  • In 1697 France and Spain divided Hispaniola between them. France received the western third and named it Saint-Domingue. The French set about creating sugar and coffee plantations, worked by vast numbers of slaves imported from Africa.
  • The French settlers were outnumbered by slaves by almost 10 to 1. According to the 1788 Census, Haiti's population consisted of nearly 25,000 Europeans, 22,000 free coloreds and 700,000 African slaves.