Haitian Revolution and the massive debt later imposed on Haiti by France after Haiti won independenc

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]1791, [music] Saint Domingue, France's richest colony.

[00:00:06]Sugar, coffee, gold.

[00:00:09]500,000 enslaved Africans [music] worked to death. August 1791, the drums start. Plantations burn.

[00:00:19]Masters flee.

[00:00:21]The slaves rise.

[00:00:24]France sends armies. [music] Defeated.

[00:00:27]Spain invades.

[00:00:29]Defeated. [music] Britain sends 60,000 troops.

[00:00:34]Yellow fever kills them.

[00:00:36]A former slave rises, [music] Toussaint Louverture, trains slaves into soldiers, defeats Europe's [music] best.

[00:00:44]Napoleon panics. Sends 30,000 troops.

[00:00:48]They capture Toussaint [music] through deception, ship him to France. He dies in a frozen prison, [music] but the rebellion doesn't stop. 1804, Haiti wins. First black republic. First [music] nation built by freed slaves.

[00:01:02]France's response? Punishment. 1825, [music] French warships arrive. "Pay 150 million francs for freeing yourselves, or we re-enslave you." Haiti agrees.

[00:01:14][music] 21 billion dollars in today's money.

[00:01:18]Borrowed from French banks at crushing rates. They pay for 122 [music] years. Final payment? 1947.

[00:01:27]But here's what lasts. The debt destroyed them. Haiti, once the richest colony, becomes the poorest [music] nation in the Western Hemisphere. 70% live on $2 a day. Schools crumble.

[00:01:40]Hospitals lack supplies. 2010, [music] earthquake kills 230,000.

[00:01:46]Infrastructure [music] too weak to rebuild. 2011, president assassinated.

[00:01:51]Gangs control 80% of the capital. All because they freed themselves [music] in 1804, France refuses to return the money. The revolution that beat three empires, [music] the debt that punished 200 years of Haitians, the bill they're still paying [music] today.