When was Martinique colonized?

Answer 1

Haiti was initially colonized by the Spanish then by the French, during which it was known as Saint-Domingue. The natives revolted in 1799, following the Americans' example and took the name Haiti.

Answer 2

Haiti is only a part of the island of Hispaniola, and didn't actually exist as a nation until the end of the 17th Century. The first colonists were the Spanish, who established gold mines and plantations on the island following Christopher Columbus claiming it for Spain in the December of 1492. The indigenous population, who were the Taino Arawak Indians, were brutally treated by the Spanish- they were enslaved, ill-treated, and forced to work as labourers in the mines and fields. There were frequent Taino rebellions against the Spanish occupiers, one of the most famous being led by Queen Anacaona, but these were to no avail- superior European technology and military strategy always won out in the end. The Spanish also brought European diseases to the native populace, who had no resistance to them and were decimated by epidemics of such illnesses as smallpox, bubonic plague, and scarlet fever.
The Spanish Governors began importing African slaves to the island in 1517, when King Charles V of Spain authorised this move. Africans were seen as better workers, who could toil for longer in adverse conditions and were physically stronger. The move resulted in the native Tainos being almost completely eradicated- some who evaded capture fled to the mountains and established independent settlements. Later on, they bred with escaped African slaves who sought sanctuary in the Taino communities- these Afro-Amerindian offspring became known as zambo's by the Europeans, and the name may be the origin of the racist term 'Sambo' to refer to negro men.

The Spanish colonies were mostly confined to Eastern Hispaniola, so throughout the 1500s the Western part was colonised by French buccaneers. One of the first was Bertrand D'Ogeron, who succeeded in growing tobacco there. His success encouraged many wealthy plantation-owning dynasties from the neighbouring islands of Guadaloupe and Martinique to move to Hispaniola. Naturally, conflicts soon broke out between the ruling Spanish and the French freebooters, which broke out into sporadic civil wars throughout the 17th Century and caused thousands of casualties. The dispute was finally settled by the signing of the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, in which the island was divided between France and Spain- France received the Western third of the island and named it Sainte-Domique, whilst the Spanish kept the rest and called their part Santo-Domingo (now the Dominican Republic).
Following the end of hostilities, many thousands of fresh French colonists came out to set up farms and plantations in the new country (30,000 from Bordeaux alone). Throughout the 18th Century, Sante-Domique became the richest French colony in the 'New World', and it's production of sugar, coffee and indio far outstripped that of Santo-Domingo in the East. But this economic success came at a terrible price- the French were no better to their African slaves than the Spanish had been to the native Tainos, treating them terribly brutally and establishing the infamous Code Noir('Black Code'), which laid down rigid rules on slave treatment and permissable freedom.

The French Revolution of 1789 inspired the oppressed slaves to mount a revolution of their own, which began in 1791 and caught the French Governors on the back foot. They attempted to form an alliance with the gens de coleur (free people of mixed race, who although not slaves, didn't have the same rights as whites). Following the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain invaded Sainte-Domique, and France feared greatly that it would be unable to hold on to it. The French Government thus sought to curry favour with the black slaves by abolishing slavery in the territory, a move which it extended to all it's overseas territories 6 months later.
Ironically, it was a black General and former slave who restored order to Sainte-Domique. Touissant L'Ouverture had risen high in French military circles since his emancipation, and established a disciplined, flexible army that drove out the invading British as well as suppressing attempts by Spanish subversives to undermine French rule. He established peace and prosperity to the colony, insisting that freed men work in the plantations to restore revenue, and creating trading links with Britain and the USA.
Touissant L'Overture sought to gain independence for Sainte-Domique, and oversaw the drafting of a seperatist Constitution. This prompted Napoleon Bonaparte to dispatch an expeditionary taskforce of 30,000 men under the command of his brother-in-law, General Charles Leclerc, to retake the island and restore slavery. The ensuing conflict saw initial French victories, which included the kidnap & arrest of L'Ouverture, who was deported to France and imprisoned at Fort de Joux, where he died in 1803. But his ally and second-in-command, Jean-Jaques Dessalines, took over control of the military, and finally succeeded in defeating the French at the Battle of Vertieres. Independence was declared on New Year's Day 1804, when Sainte-Domique was renamed Haiti (one of the indigenous Taino names for the island). It is the only nation ever to have been founded as the result of a slave revolt.

Dessalines was proclaimed Emperor for life- he went on to rule as a despot, establishing an absolute dictatorship and exiling or executing the remaining white population. France attempted to re-establish rule over Haiti in 1825, when a convoy of naval vessels were dispatched by Charles X of France with orders to reclaim the territory, but this was averted when the then Haitian President' Jean Pierre Boyer' agreed to pay the French Government 90 million francs for revenue lost due to losing the colony.
European nations never again colonised Haiti, although they supported various factions both politically and financially during the long periods of internal strife which blighted the nation throughout the 19th Century. In January 1914, British, German and US troops landed on the island, ostensibly to protect their nationals who were living there from internal unrest. The following year, the United States invaded the country to overthrow an anti-American administration, establishing a puppet regime of pro-US Haitians who were in the pockets of Capitol Hill, and effectively occupying Haiti until 1934. The Constitution was dismantled, virtual slavery was reinstated for the purpose of building roads, and a National Guard Corps established, which ran the country after the US withdrew.

Answer 3

Haiti was colonized by the people who colonized it for many reasons. Those reasons were the same as they always are, just as the reasons why people eat, or drink alcohol, or get married, or have children, or get divorced, or stab other people are. Sure, they vary in the details, on occasion, but you can look that up in academic libraries, if you really want to know the particulars as to why other people say Haiti was colonized. If you want the truest, most simple answer, it is this: because there are evil people who want everything they can get, especially at the expense of others (others= everyone else but themselves).

Answer 4

the French about 1625

Answer 5

Haiti was colonized in the year 1659

Answer 6

Lastly France