Kingdom of Haiti
Haiti, 1811–1820. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Kingdom of Haiti was the state established by Henri Christophe on 28 March 1811 when he proclaimed himself King Henri I after having previously ruled as president of the State of Haiti, in the northern part of the country. During his reign, Henri built six castles, eight palaces (including the Sans-Souci Palace), the Royal Chapel of Milot, and the Citadelle Laferrière, built to protect the Kingdom from possible French invasions. After suffering a stroke and with support for his rule waning, Henri I committed suicide on 8 October 1820. Following Christophe's death, Boyer moved to unify the country under the southern republic, bringing an end to the Kingdom of Haiti and restoring political unity to the state later that year.
Seat of power: Cap-Haïtien
No rulers documented for this era yet.
Culture
- With an edict dated 5 April 1811, King Henry proclaimed a noble class whose titles, shields, and mottos were intended to be transmitted hereditarily. He created a noble class and appointed four princes, eight dukes, 22 counts, 37 barons, and 14 chevaliers.
- Christophe maintained and expanded a system of agricultural labour commonly described as caporalisme agraire, a structure derived in part from earlier plantation administration that sought to preserve export production following independence. Under this system, agricultural workers were organized under military-style supervision to maintain cultivation of major export crops such as sugar and coffee.
- The Haitians outfitted the fortress with 365 cannons of varying size, assembled from munitions left behind by European forces that formerly occupied the island.
- Though Sans-Souci is now an empty ruin, at the time its splendor was noted by many foreign visitors.
Picture
Built by tens of thousands of former slaves, the Citadelle Laferrière was commissioned by Haitian revolutionary Henri Christophe, for whom it is also named Citadelle Henri Christophe.
Image: Rémi Kaupp, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.