Haitian politics

Abstract

N THESE times one frequently hears of the twenty-one "republics" of the Americas. While no democracy really operates according to democratic ideals, there is probably no democratic country with less democracy than the Republic of Haiti. This statement is not made by way of denunciation, but simply for the purpose of describing a situation of some interest to those who are concerned about Latin American countries. The island of Hispaniola, especially the western third which came to be called Saint Domingue, and later, Haiti, has had an interesting, but troubled history. Columbus was so favorably impressed with the island that he had no trouble recruiting some fifteen hundred persons to settle there. African slaves were imported as early as 1510 because of the immediate and rapid decline of the aboriginal Indian population. Conflicts among the English, French, Dutch, and Spanish occurred frequently in or near Hispaniola in the seventeenth century. Finally, in 1697 the Treaty of Ryswick gave France the right to use the western part of the island. The subsequent development of sugar, indigo, and cocoa plantations made Saint Domingue the richest colonial possession in the world. © 1942, Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.