Haiti

Haiti (: Haïti), officially the Empire of Haiti (: Empire d'Haïti) is an country located on the island of in the  archipelago of the. Haiti is an, with its seat of government for the country is located in the city of Port-au-Prince. The government exercises its over thirty-one departments and TBD overseas constituent territories, all of which are governed by the strictly hierarchical imperial government. The official language of Haiti is. Haiti is the second-largest island in the Greater Antilles, with a total land area of 76192 km2. Furthermore, Haiti is home to a population of some 20 million people as of 2017, making it the most populous country in the. The largest city on the island is Saint-Domingue, with a population of some XX million people, and is located in the eastern portion of. The country's monarchy has been governed by the House of Dessalines since the country's independence in 1804, and has been headed by Emperor TBD since 19XX.

The island of Hispaniola was originally inhabited by the prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century under, whose band of explorers landed on the eastern half of the island nation. The island was discovered and claimed by in 5 December 1492 by Christopher Columbus, who had originally presumed he had arrived in, his original destination during his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Two centuries following the colonization of the island by the Spaniards, the western half of the island was ceded to in 1697 in the, resulting in the formation of the French colony of. Saint-Domingue would become the most prosperous colony in the known world as sugarcane production, fueled by the vast black African slave population on the island, allowed the colony to produce some of the wealthiest landowners on the planet during the 17th and 18th centuries. During this period of time, the , the population of free black and mulatto inhabitants in Saint-Domingue, rose to prominence as they came into possession of a fourth of all slaves and a fifth of the land in the colony by the turn of the 19th century. During the 1700s alone, Saint-Domingue was home to the largest free black population in the New World, as many had purchased their freedom as well as that of their families, and had worked extensively to make it to the top of the social ladder in Saint-Domingue according to the limitations placed on them by the .

In 1791, the began as many of the island's 700,000 slaves rose up in arms to end their enslavement to their French and free black masters throughout the colony of Saint-Domingue. Many of the wealthy black and mulatto landowners switched sides as France's began to shake the ability of the French military to project power overseas. Individuals who had once supported the French government, such as, Jean-Louis Vigouroux, TBD, and TBD, became the founding fathers of an independent Haiti. Though the revolution was violent and destructive, with more than 25,000 white colonists and 300,000 black slaves dying the midst of the conflict, the colony of Saint-Domingue successfully broke away from the French empire, and was renamed Haiti in 1804 as an absolute empire under the leadership of Jacques I of Haiti. Though there were several attempts to reconquer the newly-independent black nation, the product of the first and only successful slave revolt in the New World, Haiti maintained its independence from France. Later attempts to force Haiti into paying reparations for the losses suffered during the revolution also failed, as the Haitian government defied the French throughout the 19th century and aligned itself against European colonialism in the region.

Taking full advantage of its position in the Caribbean Ocean and the main center for sugarcane production, Haiti's wealth grew exponentially, with many of the new government policies aimed at increasing literacy, sanitation, transportation, and defense. The Haitians also pushed to expand its influence overseas, establishing colonies in TBD and TBD, which blossomed under the harsh yet efficient governance of Haitian aristocrats who believed they were protecting the natives from suffering the same tribulations of colonialism and European imperialism their people had to bear. In 1821, Haiti annexed the, using its superior military and economic might to force the weaker Spanish colonists into accepting their hegemony on the island. The Spanish language and culture was brutally suppressed throughout the eastern half of Hispaniola. During the Dominican Revolt of 1844, the white and mulatto population in the eastern portions of the island were brutally massacred by the Haitian military, permanently ending all non-black influence in the region and cementing the rule of the black nobility in Haiti. With the authority of the Haitian emperor cemented throughout Hispaniola, the modernization of Haiti, spurred on by the export of exotic fruit and sugarcane, as well as the increasingly burgeoning industrial sector on the island, resulted in the growth of Haiti as a regional power in the Americas.

A founding member of the, Haiti maintained a fierce stance of independence and neutrality, aiding nations seeking a third alternative to the influence of Western and Eastern world powers throughout and the later. The country is one of the few remaining absolute monarchies in the world, with the monarch of Haiti wielding a degree of power unprecedented in most other countries. Haiti has traditionally supported authoritarian regimes across the globe, and has a history of clandestinely sending special forces to back the militaries of brutal regimes in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Haiti has grown to become a major power and a which wields one of the world's largest economies. Haiti is a member of the international, considering Islamic jihadism as a direct threat to its colonial possessions and foreign interests. For its size, Haiti has traditionally wielded disproportionate influence in the world, and is widely regarded as a with significant power projection as a result of its international colonial ambitions.

Redevelopment of the island
At the time of its independence from France, Haiti was the single most prosperous colony anywhere in the world, providing almost half of the sugar consumed in Europe, and more than seventy-five percent of all of its coffee. The Haitians also produced more sugar and coffee than all of the British colonies in the, and played a crucial role in bankrolling French military power on the world stage. Following the revolution, considerable portions of Haiti's infrastructure had been destroyed, along with a third of its manpower. Seeking to maintain its status as the world's wealthiest nation, the Haitian government was quick to encourage the newly liberated Haitians to remain on the land they had worked their entire lives, incentivizing both the laborers and the landowners to maintain the old system that had worked so well throughout Haiti's history. Landowners were encouraged to share a greater percentage of their profits with their tenants in exchange for tax cuts, while the laborers were granted increased wages as a sign of "His Imperial Majesty's gratitude and generosity for bolstering the wealth of the people and the Empire".

This measure was crucial as Haiti's export-focused economy required vast amounts of manpower to maintain, and the imperial government had no interest in giving up Haiti's virtual monopoly on the sugar and coffee market. Newly liberated slaves were encouraged to stay on their land as Toussaint Louverture had desired, and those who were not convinced were lectured on the importance of their contribution and sacrifice by staying on the plantations. Emperor Jacques I himself went out to request the sacrifice, stating that "unless one generation of Haitians does not give of their sweat and tears, then many more will suffer until prosperity has been achieved." The acts were successful in convincing the majority of Haitians to remain on the land of their old masters, thus preserving the export economy of Haiti, and allowing it to rebuild its once vast coffers yet again. Over time, Haiti would regain its status as the wealthiest nation in the New World, and go on to maintain its domination over the sugar and coffee markets for more than a century and a half, preserving Haitian wealth and prosperity in the face of impending economic collapse.

Many of the of initiatives were highly successful, as the turbulent nature of Haitian politicians under the auspices of the founding fathers had been stopped in its tracks, allowing many of the Haitian subjects to remain on their lands without fear of conflict and civil war. The gens de couleur who had once made up a considerable portion of the wealthy landowner class, had returned to Haiti to help manage the economy using their experience of trade and finance to keep the economy stable. Though France had refused to trade with the Haitians, the importance of Haiti's exports to Europe was to combat, and many other European nations continued to trade with the Haitians in spite of France's objections. The economy recovered considerably, though not fully, by the time of the Napoleon's in 1806, blockading the British from trade with the European states on then continent. This blockade from the continent forced the British to redirect economic ties to North and South America, from which Haiti benefited greatly. With little business available on the European mainland, the Haitians were able to "encourage" the British to invest in the island nation.

British merchants established regional trade centers in Port-au-Prince as they sought to increase their presence in the region. Other European powers such as the Dutch, also followed suit, as Jacques I provided generous terms to any European merchants willing to establish their base of operations in Haiti under official Haitian protection. Many saw the fees for establishing a foothold in the region either waved or paid in full by the Haitian government, attracting much support for the program from members of the Haitian nobility, who owned trading vessels which were contracted to fulfill orders on behalf of the European merchants. The rise in trade in Haiti helped propel the growth of a Haitian middle class on the island, made up of craftsmen, laborers, traders, and various other positions that produced a thriving and vibrant urban culture in Haiti. Many saw that with the threat of individuals who would have plunged the nation into chaos, such as Alexandre Pétion and Henri Christophe, removed from power and positions of authority, Haiti could recover from its post-war wounds with ease and prosper.

Anglo-Haitian Treaty
Following the independence of Haiti from the French government in 1804, there were considerable concerns over the possibility of a French invasion of the island in the coming years. Though he had done much to bolster the military of Haiti through his prior experience as a general in the French Army, Jean-Louis Vigouroux, now the newly christened "1st Duke of Cap-Haïtien", acknowledged that a determined France could easily overwhelm the Haitian defenses and reconquer the island. Based on this information, Jacques I acknowledged that foreign assistance would be required in spite of the wide disdain for whites in Haiti. Spain was a complete non-starter, as the Haitians presented a major threat to their colony in eastern Hispaniola, and France's military presence in the region of Lowlands made the Dutch Republic an unlikely ally. As such, the Haitians found themselves in good company with the British, who feared a French rise to power on the European continent and wished to prevent them from attaining too much power overseas, especially with the increasing popular support for one of its greatest generals,.

In 1807, a delegation of Haitian diplomats was dispatched to London to negotiate a treaty between Haiti and the United Kingdom, with the goal of isolating the French in the Western Hemisphere, and protecting both the British colonies in the Americas and Haiti itself as a regional ally of the British. British vessels would be permitted safe passage through Haitian waters, the French would be denied access to port facilities in Haiti, and the British would be granted any support necessary in exchange for loan forgiveness and a line of credit extended to the nation through its bankers. With Haitian support, the threat of the French returning to the region in force was minimized to a non-issue, and the Haitians could direct their attention to more pressing matters, such as internal redevelopment and political stability where the threat of the French could no longer be leveraged as a means of gaining political power. The Anglo-Haitian Treaty was signed on 17 November 1808 by the delegates of the British and Haitian governments, and entered into force 1 January 1809.

British naval forces entered into the region with Haitian authorization the same month, with more than 5,000 military personnel landing on the shores of Port-de-Paix, where they established a military camp for the remainder of the, frustrating French attempts to strike at British possessions in the region. The treaty served as a great boon to the Haitian imperial government. As the threat of France dissipated over the years with the backing of the British Empire, the Haitians could easily redirect their attention to domestic issues, allowing them to maintain their status as the "Pearl of the Antilles". Jacques I was now able to redirect funding from the military to infrastructure redevelopment, which greatly enhanced the industrial output of Haiti as centers of production where established in the urban centers of the country so as to support the sugarcane exports. The line of credit granted by the British also permitted the Haitians to provide funding to members of the merchant class who had wished to expand their merchant fleets to an extent where they could better take advantage of Haiti's strategic location in the Caribbean Ocean.

Wisely, Jacques I and his chancellor, The Duke of Cap-Haïtien, took advantage of the opportunity afforded to them by the British to bolster the capabilities of the Haitian military. Weapons for the army were purchased from Great Britain, along with several warships that would make up the core of the young Imperial Haitian Navy. By 1810, the Haitian army consisted of 35,000 troops and 10,000 cavalry, while the navy considered of three ships-of-the-line, six frigates, and thirteen sloops, all paid for by the Haitian government. The Duke of Cap-Haïtien took it upon himself to train his troops in French combat doctrine, utilizing his experience from the battles of the French Revolution to train his men up to European standards, and enforced a strict merit-based officer corps, having witnessed first-hand the incompetence of his former colleagues in the French Royal Army result in preventable defeats at the hands of inferior enemies. At his request, Jacques I signed an imperial decree declaring that all members of the Haitian nobility would be required to go through military training if they sought a command in the army or navy, rather than the old European model of assigning officer positions to aristocrats based on title and prestige rather than merit or experience.

Annexation of Spanish Haiti
On the eastern half of Hispaniola, Santo Domingo had been the less successful colonial territory on the island, with barely 130,000 inhabitants to Haiti's nearly 800,000 citizens, and its economy was completely overshadowed by the sheer economic output of Haiti on the western end of the island. Much of the colony's cities were impoverished and forced to rely upon contraband trade to stay afloat, as most of the European population migrated to the mainland to work in the silver mines of Spanish South America. Thus, overall, Santo Domingo had remained poor and undeveloped compared to a sprawling trade ports and market centers of Haiti, the wealthiest state in the New World. When the Haitian Revolution came to an end, and the political landscape in the newly independent nation calmed down, the landowners who had fled to Santo Domingo returned to their homes in the west, living the jobs they had created in Santo Domingo to dwindle and disappear. The Haitians had conquered the area in 1804 during the revolution, but the French managed to maintain control over the eastern half by the end of the war, after which the Spanish reconquered their colony in 1809. All of the fighting over that brief period of time had ruined what little infrastructure remained in the colony.

Over the next several years, the colonists of Santo Domingo had grown impatient with their masters in Europe, and had begun agitating for independence. The Spanish greatly weakened by their defeat and conquest by the French by Napoleon, could do little to keep the colonists under their thumb. The Haitians for their part had grown fearful of a possible Frano-Spanish invasion of their lands from the east through Santo Domingo, and resolved to handle the issue before it came to fruition. Thus, in 1821, the Haitian government under the leadership of Jean-Pierre Boyer, 1st Duke of Port-de-Paix, sought to further expand the defensive posture of the nation, and thus turned their eyes to the Spanish colony of. Following the declaration of independence by the newly founded, Haiti sent emissaries to the eastern half of the island to spread word of work and opportunities in Haiti, and the possibility of prospering with the Haitian people in exchange for joining their empire. The president of the new state,, was wary of Haitian intentions, and immediately refused the offers for political union with Haiti, and expelled their emissaries.

Núñez de Cáceres instead sought to join the growing state of, which was under the leadership of. Not interested in losing out on a golden opportunity, with the authorization of Jacques I, the Port-de-Paix ordered troops into the new state and to annex it by force. The social and military elite of Spanish Haiti had aligned themselves with the Haitians, believing they would benefit from the already prosperous state in the west, rather than building from the ground up in the east. The same view was true of the people, who were search for work that only the Haitians could provide, isolating Núñez de Cáceres from any sources of popular support or political backing. Núñez de Cáceres stalled for as much time as possible, seeking the potential protection of Simón Bolívar and Gran Columbia. However, Boyer discovered his attempts to reach out to the South Americans, and using his influence over the elites in Spanish Haiti, ordered Núñez de Cáceres exiled from the island, arguing that his activities would have been an inconvenience for the betterment of the island. With Núñez de Cáceres removed from power, Spanish Haiti was immediately annexed by Haiti on 9 February 1822, unifying the whole of the island under Haitian imperial rule.

Return of France
In 1825, the French sent a fleet of fourteen warships to Haiti with the intention of forcing the island nation into paying reparations for the economic losses France had suffered as a result of the Haitian Revolution. Haiti had blossomed into a wealthy nation free of French control, while the French had lost the most prosperous colony in the world at that time to black slaves, humiliating the French as a global power. The demand for a payment of indemnity was sent ahead of the fleet by the French, who delivered the Haitian emperor, demanding of 150 million francs within a period of five years. Such a demand would have ruined the Haitian economy, forcing them to buy their independence from France after spilling so much blood to win it twenty years prior. Jacques I, who had personally led Haitian forces during the Haitian Revolution, remarked that he "would not led Haitian forces for a second time against the same dastardly force", and immediately rebuked the French ambassador. Seeking an easy fight, the French force attempts to approach Port-au-Prince from the Canal de Saint-Marc north of Gonâve Island, with the intention of bombarding the capital city in relative safety.

This plan was immediately thwarted following the discovery of the Haitian Navy behind the French fleet, which had awaited their arrival and remained out of sight south of Gonâve Island. The Haitians cut the French off from retreating back north, and trapped them between Port-au-Prince and the Haitian warships. The Haitians had further expanded their navy from twenty-two warships to nearly forty, and their army had grown to more than 50,000 troops, as the Haitians had anticipated a potential fight with the French following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Though the British had aligned themselves with the Haitians during the war, as the French no longer presented a tangible threat to their possessions in the region, the British withdrew the majority of their forces from Hispaniola to other locations where their military presence was in greater demand. Despite this, the Haitians did not allow the promises of the British to lower their guard, and knew very well their position in the great scheme of things as far as Haiti was concerned. Though the economy had recovered over the years, the military was not forgotten, and resources had been directed to ensure Haiti's independence.

With a relatively-modest, yet modernized Haitian military confronting them on both land and sea, the French fleet was forced onto shore by the numerically superior Haitians following a brief yet bloody battle at sea, and the survivors captured and imprisoned. The victory over the French had wounded their prestige, while Haiti had solidified itself as a reputable force in the region and earned the recognition of its independence from various European states after their victory. With several thousand Frenchmen in captivity in Haiti, the French government was forced to negotiate for their release with the Haitian government, that a victory in and of itself, as the negotiations had forced the French to acknowledge the Haitians as an independent power. The French soldiers and sailors were released after several months of deliberations, with the ultimate prize of recognition of Haitian independence by France attained in 1826. With the acquiescence of France to Haitian demands, Haiti had finally established itself an an major independent power in the Americas, and with both its economy, military, and prestige left intact.

Though the Haitians celebrated their complete independence from France, many slaveowners in the Americas had come to fear the consequences of these development in the region. With the victory of a black state over a white colonial power, many in the southern American states believed that the Haitians would encourage further uprisings in the Americas, as had been the case in Jamaica during the Haitian Revolution. Furthermore, the status of Haiti has the only black nation outside of Africa free of European control, saw many free blacks throughout the Western Hemisphere migrate to the island following the victory, which also concerned slaveowners throughout the area. With the increasing influence of Haiti in the black populations of the Americas, many feared the some blacks would return home and encourage rebellions across the two continents. The lobbying of the slaveowners through the influence of the Democratic Party, saw the United States refuse to recognize Haiti for another two decades until the time of the American Civil War in 1861. Likewise, Brazil would not consider Haiti as an independent state until 1881, when slavery was finally abolished in that country.