The Haitian massacre of 1804: why is it like to remember the protesters are African-Americans

Among the many slogans protesting black Americans have been repeatedly seen posters with the words "To Haiti did so in 1804. Come second round." People inexperienced in the history of the West Indian colonies difficult to understand what it means. What the protesters are threatening blacks to their white opponents, and why many call this not disturbing?

Haiti was discovered by the expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492. A riot of tropical nature, white beaches and friendly locals charmed sea travelers. They named the island Hispaniola, meaning "Little Spain" and established the settlement of Navidad.

But the behavior of the Spaniards quickly set up against them the local Indians and only one year of Navidad had been destroyed and most of its population slaughtered. The excesses of the colonists forever made them bitter enemies of the natives and the standoff lasted for more than a decade.

In the early 16th century, the Spaniards began to actively develop plantations for which they needed a cheap, preferably free labor. The Indians are ill suited for heavy labor, as was wayward and had outstanding physical data. Therefore, Hispaniola started to bring black slaves from the ocean, from the African continent.

The population of the island was successfully added to slaves, that by 1574 a thousand Spaniards had 12 thousand slaves. In the 17th century originated in Haiti and the French — first it was the pirates, and then a full-fledged colonists. In 1697 the Spanish king was forced to cede the North-Western part of the island of France, which became known as San Domingo.

In 1789 came the French revolution, and two years later the excitement began and in the colonies overseas. Prerequisites for this was more than enough. Difficult conditions of work on plantations and disease killed thousands of slaves. According to statistics, every second slave from the dark continent have died on the island in the first year due to yellow fever, beatings or starvation.

Planters of the New world were never considered nice guys, but the slave of San Domingo was the most violent scum in the Western hemisphere. Also, what of the slaves tried to squeeze all that is possible on the plantations, they mocked with impunity, showing incredible ingenuity.

Slaves boiled in cauldrons, burying alive, throwing off cliffs, attacked by dogs, put in a barrel with spikes, was beaten to death with whips and did many other horrible things that can only come up with a complete sadist. Needless to say that the situation in the colony was saturated with fear, hatred and suspicion, which simply could not translate into large-scale bloodshed.

The Haitian revolution lasted a long 14 years. Slaves and mulattos was destroying the French, the Spaniards and the British, and those, in turn, was death for their property and power. On one side was the fury and quantity, while others resisted the discipline of modern weapons and military support from Europe.

While the rebels did not hesitate to make alliances with some colonists, against the other. In 1803, they joined with the British against the French and routed the expeditionary force sent to suppress the revolution by Napoleon. Helped to the victory of the epidemic yellow fever, which decimated rather unaccustomed to the local climate punitive than the local.

January 1, 1804, in the colony of San Domingo was proclaimed the victory of the revolution and was renamed Haiti. The new name, which is well settled, in the language of local Indians means "Country of mountains". The Governor-General of Haiti was a former slave of French plantation Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

First, the new ruler of Haiti, played a little in democracy, but in September he appointed himself Emperor and took the name Jacques I. his First decree of the new ruler was aimed at the complete destruction of the whites. Despite the mass Exodus of Europeans from the island, in the former colony remained many French, Spaniards and subjects of the English Queen, who decided that the danger had passed.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines himself wanted to control the destruction of the whites and began to travel around Haiti, checking the execution of his decree. The news that the town or city in the approaching motorcade of Jacques I, greatly increased the enthusiasm of murderers and the number of victims sometimes increased tenfold.

But very soon the carnage became less effective as the victim started to hide and to withdraw from settlements in the forested mountains. Then the Emperor Jacques I started to resort to trickery, leaving the village, he was granted an Amnesty to the survivors and promised that nothing threatens them. Displaced Europeans expect all of the same dark-skinned ruthless killer with a machete and improvised pikes.

The murderers were advised to not use captured in combat firearms, and to use the means at hand, not to create a noise, forcing the victims to flee in all directions. The massacre continued until 22 April 1804, Dessalines then stopped murder and summed up the "liberation operation":

Today it is impossible to calculate the number of victims of the Haitian revolution, but historians tend to believe that in 1803 and 1804, were killed and 5,000 white inhabitants of Haiti. I must say that the massacres were not all. Spared white women married to blacks or mulattoes who deserted from Napoleon's corps of poles, which the Emperor Jacques I called the "European blacks", but also German colonists, doctors and engineers.

Saved Dessalines and his former master, who was grateful for the humane attitude toward the slaves. A former planter's even got a position at the self-proclaimed monarch. So on the world map appeared the world's first "state for blacks", where all were equal.

Soon the skull Dessalines ripped the sword and his body thrown from the window of a residence at the mercy of the crowd. People, a couple of years ago crying from happiness at the sight of Jacques I, tore his body to pieces while shouting "the Tyrant is dead!". The coup was marked by even more protracted bloodshed, in which to each other have confronted blacks and mulattos.

With regard to the controversial figure of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, his goals later proclaimed a hero, a liberator of Haiti, and has put monuments all over the country. His portrait adorns the bill denomination 250 gourdes and in his honor named street and marine vessels. After that Haiti has not just been lucky with the cruel and eccentric rulers with African roots.

These events today and inspire the part of the protesters in the US that are set up maximize dramatically. It is hoped that among them will not be a Dessalines, calling to solve the problems of racism with weapons.