The following list highlights some of the most important dates in Haitian history. Other significant events—such as the detailed chronology of the Haitian Revolution—have been omitted to enhance clarity. (Additionally, this timeline does not extend beyond the end of the Duvalierist regime.) The references provided at the end of this page should be consulted for a more comprehensive analysis of the dates presented.
SAINT-DOMINGUE/HAITI CHRONOLOGY
1492-1500: European arrival on Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), an island inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawak-speaking population
1492-1560s: Steady decline of the Taíno population, with an estimated 86% of the population dying within a few decades of contact with Europeans. The original population is estimated to have ranged from about 1 million to 3.77 million in 1492, dwindling to only a few dozen by the 1560s.
1502: Introduction of first African slaves
1502: Death of Taino Arawak Cacique (chief) Anacaona
1521: First slave revolt in the New World (in modern Dominican Republic)
1600s: Rise of French Flibustiers culture on Spanish territory
1642: Louis XIII makes slavery legal in French colonies and possessions
1664: French West Indian Company administers island of Tortuga
1685: France issues the Édit de mars 1685, later known as the Code Noir
1697: The Treaty of Ryswick, in which Spain cedes one-third of the western shore of Hispaniola to France, forming Saint-Domingue (now Haiti)
1724-1803: French government directly administers Saint-Domingue as its colony
1743: Birth on the Bréda plantation of the future revolutionary figure Toussaint Louverture
1749: Port-au-Prince new capital of Saint-Domingue (instead of Cap-Français)
1757: “Makandal Conspiracy” led by François Makandal against slave-owners
1758 (March): François Makandal executed at Le Cap; slaves forced to watch him burnt at the stake
1770s: Gens de Couleurs Libres’ (Free Coloureds) mobility increasingly restricted in and out of Saint-Domingue
1777: Free Coloureds no longer able to enter mainland France
1178: Interracial unions outlawed in France
1779: French troops (including inhabitants of Saint-Domingue) participate in Battle of Savannah in soon-to-be United States of America
1785-1790: Peak of colonial era; approximately 30, 000 African slaves imported each year to Saint-Domingue (slave population of about 500, 000 by outbreak of uprising)
1789: Beginning of the French Revolution; hostilities explode in Saint-Domingue between (and among) whites and the gens de couleurs
1791 (21August): Bois-Caiman Vodou Ceremony?
1791 (22 August): Slave uprising begins (first in the North)
1793: Gradual abolition of slavery in Saint-Domingue via French commissioners Sonthonax and Polverel
1794 (4 February): Abolition of slavery by National Convention on all French possessions
1794-1801: Toussaint Louverture rise to power in Saint-Domingue
1795: Treaty of Basel – Spain cedes Santo-Domingo (modern day Dominican Republic) to France
1800: War between Toussaint Louverture and mulatto forces led by André Rigaud
1801 (January): Louverture campaigns to Santo-Domingo (now part of the French Empire)
1801 (July): First “Haitian” Constitution written by Louverture and his secretaries
1801 (October): Moïse rebellion against Louverture
1801 ( 29 November): Execution of Moïse and other conspirers
1801-1809: American embargo on Saint-Domingue/Haiti; clandestine commerce between Northern merchants and Saint-Domingue/Haiti continues
1802 (February): Leclerc expedition
1803 (18 November): French capitulation at Battle of Vertières
1804 (1 January): Proclamation of Haitian Independence; Jean-Jacques Dessalines becomes first leader
1806 (October): Assassination of Dessalines
1807-1820: Henri Christophe succeeds Dessalines
1807/11-1820: Haiti secedes between kingdom in the North (governed by Henri Christophe) and Republic in the South/West (presided by Alexandre Pétion)
1811: Henri Christophe crowns himself Henri 1er; governs the North of Haiti as King until suicide in 1820
1807-1818: Alexandre Pétion president of South/West Haiti until death in 1818
1818-1843: Jean-Pierre Boyer accedes to presidency following death of Pétion
1820: Boyer reunites the two Haitis following Henri Christophe’s suicide
1822: Unification of Hispaniola under Haitian leader Boyer, incorporating both Haiti and the Dominican Republic
1825: Haiti agrees to an indemnity of 150 million francs to France for recognition of its independence, with settlements based on 1789 values; the debt proved nearly impossible for the newly founded nation to repay
1826: Boyer’s (particularly unpopular) Rural Code
1838: Indemnity to France was reduced to 90 million, while advantageous tariffs for French commerce were maintained
1843: “Liberal” Revolt against Boyer
1844: Dominican Republic declares independence from Haiti (and in1864 from Spain)
1844: Piquet Rebellion
1844-1915: With few notable exceptions, beginning of a period of political instability
1849-1859: Faustin Soulouque becomes president and crowns himself emperor of Haiti
1860: Concordat with the Vatican; Haiti recognized by the Holy See and attributed first archbishop in 1863
1862: United States recognition of Haitian independence
1869: Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett appointed minister to Haiti, becomes first African American to hold such diplomatic position
1874 (November): African American James Theodore Holly ordained first bishop of Haitian Episcopal Church
1875: Haitian recognition of Dominican independence
1879-1888: Presidency of Lysius Salomon
1880: Contract signed in Paris between the Société Générale de Crédit Industriel et Commercial and Charles Laforesterie (the Haitian Minister of Finance) for the creation of the Banque Nationale d’Haïti
1889-1891: African American former abolitionist and public figure Frederick Douglass serves as minister to Haiti
1885: Haitian intellectual and politician Anténor Firmin publishes De l’égalité des races humaines to rebute Arthur de Gobineau’s pseudoscientific Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines
1891: U.S. efforts to pressure the Haitian government into ceding Môle Saint-Nicholas proved unsuccessful but served as a “useful” tool for diplomatic negotiations
1890s-1915: A period marked by extreme political instability, weakened sovereignty, a decline in Haitian-owned businesses, heightened social stratification, and the intensification of the “color question”
1890s-1910s: Increase in American imperialist activities in Latin America (and in the Pacific)
1910: Reorganization of the Banque Nationale d’Haïti into the Banque de la République d’Haïti, shifting its influence from predominantly Franco-German to American control
1914: Opening of the Panama Canal
1915 (28 July): Beginning of U.S. Marine Occupation of Haiti (formally until 1934)
1915 (September): Signing of the Haitian-American Treaty, establishing Haiti’s subordination to the United States
1916-1924: (First) U.S. Marine Occupation of the Dominican Republic
1917-1920: Cacos Wars against U.S. Marine occupation forces; wars waged in different phases
1919: Death of cacos leader Charlemagne Peralte; his body was photographed and publicly displayed to deter further resistance
1920 (1 January): Haiti joins the League of Nations (founding member until 1942)
1920s: Emergence of the Haitian Indigéniste movement
1920s: Haitian army (Garde Nationale d’Haïti and later the Force Armée d’Haïti) modernized with American military techniques
1920 (March-May): African-American field secretary of the N.A.A.C.P. James Weldon Johnson in Haiti to investigate Marine presence
1927: Haitian journal La revue indigène co-founded by Jacques Roumain and Émile Roumer
1928: Haitian intellectual Jean Price-Mars publishes Ainsi parla l’Oncle, delivering a sharp critique of the Haitian elite for its lack of social relevance; the book, later reinterpreted, becomes foundational for the emerging Noiriste movement
1930s: “Color question” intensify further; Marine occupation seen as an humiliation
1930s: Noirisme movement “grows out” of Indigénisme
1932: Jacques Roumain and Christian Beaulieu travel to New York city in hopes of securing financial support from the Communist Party of the United States to create a Communist Party in Haiti
1934: Creation of the feminist organ La Ligue Feminine d’Action Sociale (LFAS)
1934: Creation of the Haitian Communist Party with members such as Jacques Roumain
1934 (15 August): Official departure of U.S. Marines; U.S. continues to hold control of the Banque de la République d’Haïti
1937 (October): The Parsley Massacre, in which an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 individuals identified as ‘Haitians’ living in the Dominican Republic were killed
1941-2: The anti-superstition campaign, largely targeting Vodou, led by the Haitian Catholic Church, reportedly with the support of President Élie Lescot
1941: Dr Pierre Mabille acts as French cultural attaché to Haiti and becomes influential among young Marxist intellectuals in the capital
1941: Price-Mars and collaborators lunch the Institut d’Ethnologie
1944: Aimé Césaire visits Haiti
1945: Haiti joins the United Nations; Émile Saint-Lot named ambassador
1945: Noirist Daniel Fignolé and students form the Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan (MOP)
1945 (December): French Surrealist poet and writer André Breton visits Haiti at the invitation of Pierre Mabille to give a series of lectures; during his stay, he witnesses the “January Revolution” or the “Cinq glorieuses” of 1946
1945 (7 December): Young (mostly Marxist) Haitian radicals in Port-au-Prince re-lunch the journal La Ruche; editorial board includes René Depestre, Jacques Stéphen Alexis and Gérard Chenet
1946 (11 January): Lescot ousted; “Revolution of 1946”
1946 (January-August): Haitian Gardes form the CEM (Conseil Exécutif Militaire) and rule in the absence of a president
1946 (8 April): The United States recognizes the CEM
1946: Election of Dumarsais Estimé; victory of Noirisme movement
1947: Haiti regains control of the Banque de la République d’Haïti
1948 ( 30 April): Creation of the Organization of American States
1949-1950: Estimé’s lunches lavish Exposition internationale du bicentenaire de Port-au-Prince
1950 (10 May): Coup against Estimé led by military generals including Paul Eugène Magloire
1950-1956: Presidency of Paul Eugène Magloire
1956 (September): First international Congrès des écrivains et artistes noirs held in Paris; Haiti’s Jean Price-Mars serves as president, with René Depestre and Jacques Stéphen Alexis among the attendees
1956 (December): Ousting of Paul Eugène Magloire
1956-1957: Period of political instability; Joseph Nemours Pierre-Louis, Franck Sylvain, Léon Cantave, Léon Cantave, Daniel Fignolé and Antonio Thrasybule Kébreau all “elected” presidents for short moments
1957 (22 September): François Duvalier “elected” president
1957-1986: Duvalier Dictatorship
1958: Creation of violent paramilitary force Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (VSN) known as the Tontons Macoutes following coup attempt against François Duvalier
1959 (30 December): Creation of the Inter-American Development Ban
1960: Upper-class Haitians gradually leave Haiti to flee Duvalier’s dictatorship
1961: Jacques Stephen Alexis leads a failed Communist coup against Duvalier; he is subsequently tortured and murdered
1962: François Duvalier’s Rural Code
1963 (September): First reported Haitian “boat people” arrive to South Florida and demand political asylum
1964: François Duvalier named president for life
1971: Death of François Duvalier
1971-1986: Jean-Claude Duvalier succeeds his father and continues dictatorship
1980: Jean-Claude Duvalier marries Michèle Bennett, a “light-skinned” member of the elite “mulatto” circles; this alliance prompts a reconsideration of François Duvalier’s Noiriste ideology
1982: Jean-Bertrand Aristide, then an ordinary priest, delivers sermons in which he openly criticizes the atrocities of the Duvalier dictatorship
1984: Food riots soon turn into political riot
1985 ( 27 November): Three students are killed in Gonaïves, sparking major demonstrations across the country, with anger directed at the Duvalier government
1986 (7 February): Jean-Claude Duvalier flees Haiti for France with an estimated $120 million, marking the end of the Duvalier dictatorship. Military factions and neo-Duvalierist groups seize power, ushering in a period of political confusion and the failure of a democratic transition
➠ Please do not copy this list without permission from administration. Use for educational purposes only.
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References:
Monographs and Articles
Fick, Carolyn E. The Making of Haiti: The Saint Domingue Revolution from Below. Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1990.
Fischer, Sibylle. Modernity Disavowed: Haiti and the Cultures of Slavery in the Age of Revolution. Duke University Press, 2004.
Frostin, Charles. Les révoltes blanches à Saint-Domingue aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (Haïti avant 1789). Ecole, 1975.
Geggus, David Patrick. Haitian Revolutionary Studies. Indiana University Press, 2002.
Hoffmann, Léon-François. Histoire littéraire de la francophonie: littérature d’Haïti. Chicoutimi: J.-M. Tremblay, 2013. http://classiques.uqac.ca/contemporains/hoffmann_leon_francois/litterature_dHaiti/litterature_dHaiti.html.
———. “Les Etats-Unis et les Américains dans les lettres haïtiennes.” Études littéraires 13, no. 2 (1980): 289.
James, C. L. R. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. Penguin Books Limited, 2001.
Landers, Jane, and Barry Robinson. Slaves, Subjects, and Subversives: Blacks in Colonial Latin America. UNM Press, 2006.
Leyburn, James G. The Haitian People. Yale University Press, 1948.
Oliver, Jose R. Caciques and Cemi Idols: The Web Spun by Taino Rulers Between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. University of Alabama Press, 2009.
Smith, Matthew J. Red and Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934-1957: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934-1957. University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
Sprague, Jeb. Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2012.
Stone, Erin Woodruff. “America’s First Slave Revolt: Indians and African Slaves in Española, 1500–1534.” Ethnohistory 60, no. 2 (March 20, 2013): 195–217.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Haiti, State Against Nation: The Origins and Legacy of Duvalierism. Monthly Review Press, 1990.
Wilson, Samuel M. Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus. University of Alabama Press, 1990.
Web Pages
Haiti-Reference. “Calendrier Fêtes.” Accessed October 26, 2014. http://www.haiti-reference.com/histoire/calendrier-fetes.php.
Perspective Monde. “Haïti: Chronologie depuis 1945.” Accessed October 26, 2014. http://perspective.usherbrooke.ca/bilan/servlet/BMHistoriquePays?codePays=HTI&langue=fr.