Saint-Domingue

Saint-Domingue
State of Saint Domingue



Location of Saint-Domingue
Established	1862
Capital	Le Maguane
Largest City	Saint-Domingue (Santo)
Government Type	Republic
Languages	French (official) Dominguese Creole Spanish Others
Currency	Dominguese franc (SMF)

Saint-Domingue, also known as Dominica and officially the State of Saint-Domingue (French: L'État de Saint Domingue, Spanish: Estado de Santo Domingo) is a Caribbean country encapsulating the island of Kiskella (Hispaniola) and vicinal islets.

Etymology

The country was named after the Spanish Saint Dominic of the Dominican Order in the 16th century. There are several variations of this name too, including Dominica in English, Sint-Dominick in Amerikaens and Dutch, and most commonly as Santo Domingo (Spanish).

Saint-Domingue's indigenous name is Kiskella (French: Qesquella, Spanish: Quisqueya). It is used colloquially by speakers of Dominguese Creole and features as a poetic & romantic name for the nation. The country may also be called Hispaniola or Haïti.

History

Premodern history

Taino dominance

Spanish colonial rule

French colonial rule

Islandwide French rule (1756-1815)

French invasion of Santo Domingo

The division of the island of Hispaniola between France and Spain in 1701 ended in a situation unfavorable to both the French and the Spanish crowns and so during the chaos of the Great Silesian war, France pounced upon several Spanish possessions in the Americas. Although the population of Spanish Santo Domingo was perhaps one-fourth that of French Saint-Domingue, this did not prevent the Spanish from launching an invasion of the French side of the island in 1751. Unlike many of the other French military excursions in the Americas during the war, the invasion of Santo Domingo went surprisingly well with French losses half of what was expected and all major cities in Santo-Domingo falling in only 6 months.

After the war, the French initially agree to cede their captured territory. But following protests by the locals on the island - particularly French colonial elites who hoped to expand their sugar cane plantations - the French attempt to renegotiate and end up swapping the east side of the island for the African island of Santa Apolónia. In the resulting Treaty of Andorra (1756) the French were forced to recognize and respect the land rights of the existing former Spanish subjects.

Reform period (1815-1862)

Post-Augustine era

During the French revolution and the Augustine Wars, the British took control of the island. The British found it hard to manage as the free black, mestizo, and white Francophone populations were resentful of British rule. During the Congress of Vienna, the island was returned to French rule. When the French returned to the colony they found the islanders to be increasingly rebellious. After an aborted bourgeoise revolution in 1815, the French ruling class agreed to increased autonomy in internal affairs, increased representation of the colony in the form of a locally elected governor, and full equal rights for mestizo Dominicans. During the next decade, the colony became very economically prosperous once again after the chaos of revolution. In 1832, after a slave revolt that captured the north-western region of the island was put down, the French colonial governor implemented slave protection laws to appease the black and liberal bourgeoise populations.

Abolition of slavery

In the 1850s, abolitionist sentiments swept the colony. After a massive slave revolt inspired by Zoekerism and South Tussenland's independence, Governor General Jean-Michel de Lepinay declared all slaves on the island free on the 18th of March, 1853. The Governor did not get approval to go through with manumission by the metropolitan French government, thus enraging the colonial ruling class. The French navy was sent to Port-au-Prince that summer to re-establish slavery but was ultimately unsuccessful, leading to the ratification of the March manumission declaration.

Independence

After the Canton War nearly bankrupted the French treasury, the imperial French government tried to raise funds by increasing taxes on sugar, coffee and perfume exports from Saint-Domingue and increasing import tariffs on processed goods from New Netherland and Mexico. This led to a series of riots against French imperial rule in the summer of 1859. The French responded by confiscating the land and assets of merchants who were believed to be insurgents. In response to these sanctions, a group of wealthy mestizo elites set up a pro-independence society known as the New Order of Saint Domingue (Creole: Canfreyri Noveyl de Sendomin).

This organization agitated against French rule by collaborating with freed black slaves with the promise of universal suffrage, regardless of race. After the Neybe Incident, when a drunk French soldier shot and killed a Dominican woman in March of 1861, riots broke out across the island. The rebels hastily organized a militia called the Armée Populaire de Saint Domingue. At the same time, rural black sharecroppers and farmworkers took up arms and sided with the rebels. After only four months of fighting, the French military was kicked off the island. Soon after, the rebels declared the independence of Saint- Domingue on the 16th of August, 1861.

The Hibiscus invasion

Two months later, the French returned and lay sieged to the island. After a long siege and a week of brutal urban warfare, the French reconquered the city of Saint-Domingue in an event known as Le Lundi Bleu. In the days following the French re-invasion nearly 5,000 people were massacred.

In the spring of 1862, New Netherland, South Tussenland, and Britain were started to apply diplomatic pressure to the French, hopefully to deescalate the situation. South Tussenland, a Zoekerist theocracy at the time, recognized the independence of Saint-Domingue and sent aid to the rebels; this started a wave of independent nations of the Americas recognizing the nation as independent. Throughout the next several months the French offensive stalled and the rebels began to decimate French forces. After eighteen months of rebellion, the French government recognized the independence of Saint Domingue on the 9th of October, 1862.