Henri christophe biography haiti
Painting of Henri Christophe, First King of the Republic of Haiti
(b. October 8, 1767 – d. October 8, 1820).
Little is known about Henri Christophe's (English: Henry Christopher ) boyhood. A great number of commentators report that he was born on Grenada island, a small nation in the Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles, and was the son of a freeman. His father, also named Christophe, was reportedly transported from West African or Central West Africa to Saint Domingue, the former French colony now known as Haiti.
The Early Adult Life of Henri Christophe
In 1779, Christophe served with the French Forces as a drummer boy with a regiment described as gens de couleur(English: people of color or color people) in the American Revolution. The gens de couleurregiment fought at the Siege of Savannah at what is now the State of Georgia. Nine years later, in 1788, Georgia would become the fourth State admitted into the original thirteen colonies of the United States of America. France had lent troop assistance to the revolutionaries against England during the American Revolution.
After the American Revolution, Christophe returned to Saint Domingue where he is reported to have worked as a billiard-maker, mason, sailor, stable-hand and waiter. He also managed a hotel restaurant in Cap-Français, then the capital of Saint-Domingue, that served the wealthy French slave-holders from the surrounding plantations.
Enslaved Africans at Saint Domingue Defeat France’s Napoleon Bonaparte
Image of Brigadier General Henri Christophe of Haiti
On August 22, 1791, at Midnight, the Africans at Saint Domingue revolted against France's colonial regime of slavery. That night, approximately 1,400 coffee and sugar plantations were set on fire -- the first act that started the road to independence. The Haitian Revolution was rebellion against a century of French oppression. The name the Africans would later adopt for their new nation is "Haiti",&nbsHenri Christophe
Haitian revolutionary; founder and ruler of the Kingdom of Haiti (1807–11)
For other uses, see Henri Christophe (disambiguation).
Henri Christophe (French pronunciation:[ɑ̃ʁikʁistɔf]; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti.
Born in the British Caribbean, Christophe was possibly of Senegambian descent. Beginning with the slave uprising of 1791, he rose to power in the ranks of the Haitian revolutionary military. The revolution succeeded in gaining independence from France in 1804. In 1805 he took part under Jean-Jacques Dessalines in the capture of Santo Domingo (now Dominican Republic), against French forces who acquired the colony from Spain in the Treaty of Basel.
After Dessalines was assassinated, Christophe retreated to the Plaine-du-Nord and created a separate government. On 17 February 1807, he was elected president of the State of Haiti, as he named that area. Alexandre Pétion was elected president of the Republic of Haiti in the south. On 26 March 1811, Christophe created a kingdom in the north and was later proclaimed Henry I, King of Haïti. He also created a nobility and named his legitimate son Jacques-Victor Henry as prince and heir.
He is known for constructing Citadel Henry, now known as Citadelle Laferrière, the Sans-Souci Palace, the royal chapel of Milot, the Palais de la Belle Rivière and numerous other palaces. Under his policies of corvée, or forced labor bordering on slavery, the Kingdom earned revenues from agricultural production, primarily sugar, but the Haitian people resented the system. He reached an agreement with the United Kingdom to respect its Caribbean colonies in exchange for their warnings to his government of any French naval activity threatening Haiti. In 1820, unpopular, ill and fearing a coup, he committed suicide. Jacques-Victor, his son and heir, was Henri Christophe was born on October 6th, 1767, in Grenada. His father was a freeman and his mother was a slave. He was brought to Saint-Domingue (then the name for Haiti, which was a French colony at the time) as a slave. In 1780, during the American Revolution, he fought in a French unit at Savanna, Georgia. After the war, he returned to Saint-Domingue, and worked many service jobs. Then he went to work as a domestic in the Couronne Inn, and married the daughter of the proprietor. During that time he also gained his freedom and became a freeman. After the French Revolution broke out, the revolutionary spirit soon spread into Haiti and gave rise to widespread calls for freedom. In 1791, there was a massive slave uprising against the French colonial powers, and Christophe joined the party of the Haitian independence leader, Toussaint Louverture, in 1793. Christophe worked his way up and soon became one of Louverture's chief lieutenants in fighting the French colonists, the British, and the Spaniards, before ultimately fighting French military men that stepped in to unsuccessfully quell the uprising. After he had joined Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Christophe helped him successfully defeat the French. The colony gained independence in 1804, and was renamed as Haiti. After Dessalines' assassination, Christophe was appointed as president for a four-year term, though he was unhappy with it, and attempted a coup that failed. In 1807, Christophe formed a "State" of Haiti, and set himself up as the ruler of the new state, whereas the southern territory was under the control of rival Alexandre Pétion. The battles between Christophe and Petion were brutal, and lasted for many years, but Christophe was unable to concur Petion. After a failed siege in 1807, he retreated to the north and focused on establishing a stable government there. After finally reaching an informal peace agreement wit By Marlene L. Daut $40.00 Not in stock. Order here for delivery or to pickup later.Henri Christophe of Haiti - World Leaders in History
5. Early Life
4. Rise to Power
The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe (Hardcover)
Description
The essential biography of the controversial rebel, traitor, and only king of Haiti. Henry Christophe is one of the most richly complex figures in the history of the Americas, and was, in his time, popular and famous the world over: in The First and Last King of Haiti, a brilliant, award-winning Yale scholar unravels the still controversial enigma that he was.
Slave, revolutionary, traitor, king, and suicide, Henry Christophe was, in his time, popular and famous the world over. Born in 1767 to an enslaved mother on the Caribbean island of Grenada, Christophe first fought to overthrow the British in North America, before helping his fellow enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, as Haiti was then called, to gain their freedom from France. Yet in an incredible twist of fate, Christophe ended up fighting with Napoleon’s forces against the very enslaved men and women he had once fought alongside. Later, reuniting with those he had betrayed, he offered to lead them and made himself their king. But it all came to a sudden and tragic end when Christophe—after nine years of his rule as King Henry I—shot himself in the heart, some say with a silver bullet.
Why did Christophe turn his back on Toussaint Louverture and the very revolution with which his name is so indelibly associated? How did it come to pass that Christophe found himself accused of participating in the plot to assassinate Haiti’s first ruler, Dessalines? What caused Haiti to eventually split into two countries, one ruled by Christophe in the north, who made himself king, the other led by President Pétion in the south?
The First and Last King of Haiti is a riveting story of not only geopolitical clashes on a grand scale but also of friendship and loyalty, treach