Haiti

Saint-Domingue — the richest colony in the world

Saint-Domingue (1697–1791 CE), the western third of Hispaniola under French rule, was the most productive colonial economy in the Americas — producing 40% of Europe's sugar and 60% of its coffee from the labour of 500,000 enslaved Africans (outnumbering the free population 10 to 1) in conditions so brutal that life expectancy for a new slave was 7 years.

The Haitian Revolution — the only successful slave revolt

The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804 CE) was the only successful slave uprising in history — enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue defeated the armies of France, Spain, and Britain, killed the most capable general Napoleon ever produced (his brother-in-law Leclerc died of yellow fever during the campaign), and created the world's first Black republic.

Toussaint Louverture — the Napoleon of the Caribbean

Toussaint Louverture (c. 1743–1803 CE), born enslaved in Saint-Domingue, became the most significant military and political leader produced by the Haitian Revolution — his transformation from slave to ruler of the most productive colony in the Americas, and his betrayal and death in a French dungeon, made him one of history's most dramatic figures.

The debt of independence — Haiti's 122-year reparation burden

Haiti's "double debt" — the 150 million franc indemnity paid to France (1825–1947 CE) in exchange for diplomatic recognition and the threat of French warships, plus the loans Haiti took to pay this indemnity — is the most extraordinary case of a nation being forced to pay its former enslaver for its own freedom, impoverishing it for over a century.

The Duvaliers — Papa Doc, Baby Doc, and the Tonton Macoutes

The Duvalier family's rule of Haiti (1957–1986 CE) — François "Papa Doc" Duvalier followed by his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" — was one of the Western Hemisphere's most brutal and extractive dictatorships, sustained by the Tonton Macoutes paramilitary force and Cold War American support, leaving Haiti with destroyed institutions and a traumatised civil society.

The 2010 earthquake — Haiti's compounded catastrophe

The 2010 Haiti earthquake (12 January 2010 CE), magnitude 7.0, killed approximately 316,000 people, injured 300,000, and displaced 1.5 million — already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti suffered a catastrophic compounding of structural vulnerability, corrupt governance, and inadequate international response that made its recovery the slowest of any modern natural disaster.