History of Haiti

The recorded history of Haiti began on December 5 1492, when the European navigator Christopher Columbus landed on a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. It was inhabited by the Taíno and Arawakan people, who variously called their island Ayiti, Bohio, and Kiskeya . Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, naming it La Isla Española , later Latinized to Hispaniola. French influence began in 1625, and French control of what was called Saint-Domingue in modern-day Haiti began in 1660. From 1697 on, the western part of the island was French, and the eastern part was Spanish. Haiti became one of the wealthiest of France’s colonies, producing vast quantities of sugar and coffee, depending on enslaved Africans to provide the labor. Inspired by the message of the French Revolution, the enslaved Haitians rose up in revolt in 1791, and after decades of struggle, the independent republic of Haiti was officially proclaimed