Haiti

Spain state institutions National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1741–1801 ✕ Killed in a brawl

Early leader of the 1791 slave rising who fought for Spain against Toussaint and died a Spanish general in Florida

Born a slave on a sugar plantation in Saint-Domingue in 1741, he was named by the Vodou priest Dutty Boukman at the Bois-Caïman ceremony of August 1791, with Jean-François Papillon and Jeannot Bullet, to lead the insurrection, and in its first months he and Jean-François were the most important rebel leaders, Biassou commanding some 40,000 slaves. Their offer to end the revolt in exchange for emancipation was dismissed by France. In 1793 he joined Spain as one of the Black Auxiliaries of Charles IV and, defeated by his former ally Toussaint Louverture after Toussaint went over to the French, stayed loyal to Spain. After the Treaty of Basel he moved to St. Augustine in Spanish Florida, took the name Jorge and commanded the black militia from Fort Matanzas. He died in a drunken brawl in 1801.

French First Republic state institutions National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1743–1803 ○ Died in prison

Former slave who united Saint-Domingue and became governor-general for life in 1801, the foremost leader of the Haitian Revolution

Born a slave on the Bréda plantation in 1743 and manumitted in the 1770s, he became a small planter who owned slaves. After the rising of 1791 he joined Biassou as secretary and lieutenant, entered Spanish service in 1793 and came over to the French in May 1794, after France had abolished slavery. Lieutenant governor in 1796, he expelled Sonthonax in 1797 and in 1798 signed the treaties with Maitland for the British withdrawal. He defeated Rigaud in the War of the South, occupied Santo Domingo in January 1801 and in July promulgated a constitution that made him governor-general for life, abolished slavery and bound cultivators to the plantations. He submitted to Leclerc in 1802, was arrested and deported, and died in the Fort de Joux on 7 April 1803.

National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1758–1806 ✕ Assassinated

Louverture's lieutenant who led the Indigenous Army to victory, proclaimed Haitian independence in 1804 and reigned as Emperor Jacques I

Born a slave in 1758 on the Cormier plantation in the north of Saint-Domingue, he rose to foreman and took the surname of the free man of colour who bought him. He joined the rising of 1791 as a lieutenant of Jean-François and from 1794 was Toussaint Louverture's chief lieutenant, brigadier general by 1799. In 1802 he held Crête-à-Pierrot with 1,300 men through a twenty-day siege, submitted to Leclerc, and when the French moved to restore slavery rose again with Pétion in October, becoming leader of the rebels. He defeated Rochambeau at Vertières in November 1803 and on 1 January 1804 at Gonaïves proclaimed independence. He ordered the massacre of the remaining French, 3,000 to 5,000 people, was crowned Emperor Jacques I in October 1804, enforced plantation labour and was assassinated at Pont-Rouge on 17 October 1806.

French First Republic state institutions National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1761–1811 ○ Died

Mulatto leader who led the free coloured army of the South against the British and lost the War of the South to Louverture in 1799–1800

Born in Les Cayes in 1761 to a wealthy French planter and an enslaved mother, he was trained as a goldsmith in Bordeaux. Back in the colony he succeeded Ogé and Raimond as the champion of the free people of colour, led an army in the West and South from the mid-1790s with authority granted by Polverel, and checked the British, retaking Léogâne and Tiburon in 1794. Unwilling to concede power in the South to Toussaint Louverture, and encouraged by Hédouville, he fought the War of the South from June 1799. After his defeat he left for France in 1800, returned with Leclerc's expedition in 1802 and was deported again, held in the Fort de Joux like Toussaint. In December 1810 he returned to Haiti a third time and made himself president of the State of the South against both Pétion and Christophe, but died in September 1811.

Spain state institutions National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1741–1801 ✕ Killed in a brawl

Early leader of the 1791 slave rising who fought for Spain against Toussaint and died a Spanish general in Florida

Born a slave on a sugar plantation in Saint-Domingue in 1741, he was named by the Vodou priest Dutty Boukman at the Bois-Caïman ceremony of August 1791, with Jean-François Papillon and Jeannot Bullet, to lead the insurrection, and in its first months he and Jean-François were the most important rebel leaders, Biassou commanding some 40,000 slaves. Their offer to end the revolt in exchange for emancipation was dismissed by France. In 1793 he joined Spain as one of the Black Auxiliaries of Charles IV and, defeated by his former ally Toussaint Louverture after Toussaint went over to the French, stayed loyal to Spain. After the Treaty of Basel he moved to St. Augustine in Spanish Florida, took the name Jorge and commanded the black militia from Fort Matanzas. He died in a drunken brawl in 1801.

French First Republic state institutions National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1743–1803 ○ Died in prison

Former slave who united Saint-Domingue and became governor-general for life in 1801, the foremost leader of the Haitian Revolution

Born a slave on the Bréda plantation in 1743 and manumitted in the 1770s, he became a small planter who owned slaves. After the rising of 1791 he joined Biassou as secretary and lieutenant, entered Spanish service in 1793 and came over to the French in May 1794, after France had abolished slavery. Lieutenant governor in 1796, he expelled Sonthonax in 1797 and in 1798 signed the treaties with Maitland for the British withdrawal. He defeated Rigaud in the War of the South, occupied Santo Domingo in January 1801 and in July promulgated a constitution that made him governor-general for life, abolished slavery and bound cultivators to the plantations. He submitted to Leclerc in 1802, was arrested and deported, and died in the Fort de Joux on 7 April 1803.

National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1744–1801 ○ Natural causes

Indigo planter who led the free coloured campaign for equal rights in Paris and helped draft the 1801 Constitution of Saint-Domingue

Born a free man of colour in southern Saint-Domingue to a French colonist and a coloured mother, he was an indigo planter with over 100 slaves by the 1780s. In 1785 he went to France to press the Colonial Ministry to reform the laws against free people of colour, and in December 1789 he and others petitioned the National Constituent Assembly. With Vincent Ogé, Henri Grégoire and the Society of the Friends of the Blacks, which later elected him its leader, he made their equal rights the leading colonial question of 1790–1791 and won the decree of 15 May 1791. His plans for gradual emancipation were overtaken when Sonthonax freed the rebels. Back in Saint-Domingue as a government agent, once with Sonthonax, he helped re-establish the plantations, and he sat on the ten-man committee that wrote Toussaint Louverture's Constitution of 1801, dying soon after it was published.

National liberation and anti-colonial movements 1758–1806 ✕ Assassinated

Louverture's lieutenant who led the Indigenous Army to victory, proclaimed Haitian independence in 1804 and reigned as Emperor Jacques I

Born a slave in 1758 on the Cormier plantation in the north of Saint-Domingue, he rose to foreman and took the surname of the free man of colour who bought him. He joined the rising of 1791 as a lieutenant of Jean-François and from 1794 was Toussaint Louverture's chief lieutenant, brigadier general by 1799. In 1802 he held Crête-à-Pierrot with 1,300 men through a twenty-day siege, submitted to Leclerc, and when the French moved to restore slavery rose again with Pétion in October, becoming leader of the rebels. He defeated Rochambeau at Vertières in November 1803 and on 1 January 1804 at Gonaïves proclaimed independence. He ordered the massacre of the remaining French, 3,000 to 5,000 people, was crowned Emperor Jacques I in October 1804, enforced plantation labour and was assassinated at Pont-Rouge on 17 October 1806.