|
Tortuga
Tortuga [Span.,=turtle], island, c.70 sq mi (180 sq km), off N Haiti. It was a notorious rendezvous of pirates in the 17th cent. It is called Île de la Tortue by the Haitians.
...
Read more
|
|
|
André Rigaud
André Rigaud , 1761-1811, Haitian mulatto general in the wars that liberated Haiti. Educated, but vain, he believed in the superiority of mulattoes. He sought (1798-1800) unsuccessfully to wrest the leadership from Toussaint L'Ouverture . In 1802 he went to France, returned with General Lecl...
Read more
|
|
|
Tonton Macoutes
Tonton Macoutes [Haitian Creole,=bogeymen], personal police force of dictator Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) of Haiti. Unpaid volunteers who were directly responsible only to Duvalier, they were given virtual license to torture, kill, and extort. They murdered hundreds of Duvalier's opponents, some...
Read more
|
|
François Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture
François Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture , c.1744-1803, Haitian patriot and martyr. A self-educated slave freed shortly before the uprising in 1791, he joined the black rebellion to liberate the slaves and became its organizational genius. Rapidly rising in power, Toussaint joined forces for ...
Read more
|
|
|
Jean Pierre Boyer
Jean Pierre Boyer , 1776-1850, president of Haiti (1818-43). A free mulatto, he fought under Toussaint L'Ouverture and then joined André Rigaud , also a mulatto, in the latter's abortive insurrection against Toussaint. He returned in 1802 with the French army of Charles Leclerc but later...
Read more
|
|
|
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina , 1891-1961, president of the Dominican Republic (1930-38, 1942-52). Trained by U.S. marines during U.S. occupation of the country, he was army chief in the presidency of Horacio Vásquez , whom he ousted in 1930. He became dictator and retained power until his...
Read more
|
|
|
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic , republic (2005 est. pop. 8,950,000), 18,700 sq mi (48,442 sq km), West Indies, on the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola . The capital and largest city is Santo Domingo .
Land and People
The land ranges from mountainous to gently rolling, with fertile riv...
Read more
|
|
Haiti
Haiti , Fr. Haïti , officially Republic of Haiti, republic (2005 est. pop. 8,122,000), 10,700 sq mi (27,713 sq km), West Indies, on the western third of the island of Hispaniola. It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the east by the Dominic...
Read more
|
|
slavery
slavery institution based on a relationship of dominance and submission, whereby one person owns another and can exact from that person labor or other services. Slavery has been found among many groups of low material culture, as in the Malay Peninsula and among some Native Americans; it also has o...
Read more
|
|
Henri Christophe
Henri Christophe , 1767-1820, Haitian revolutionary leader. A freed black slave, he aided Toussaint L'Ouverture in the liberation of Haiti and was army chief under Dessalines . When the latter declared himself emperor, Christophe took part (1806) in a successful plot against his life and was elec...
Read more
|
