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The series of events that transformed the French colony of Saint-Domingue into the independent nation of Haiti lasted from 1791 to 1804. In the context of the expectations raised by the French Revolution, the enslaved Africans and free mulattoes of the colony not only abolished slavery but liberated themselves from French rule. the revolution served as an inspiration for countless other revolts in the Caribbean and North America. -
Painting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, by Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier, ca. 1789. Adopted less than two months after the storming of the Bastille ushered in the French Revolution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen remains one of the primary documents on human rights known throughout the world. -
the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen remains one of the primary documents on human rights known throughout the world. The Marquis de Lafayette, who had fought alongside the patriots in the American Revolution, made significant contributions to the language of this document. It was adopted by the French National Assembly on August 26, 1789, and published with the knowledge, albeit not the specific endorsement, of French king Louis XVI. -
Inspired by the events of the French Revolution and angered by years of mistreatment, 200 black slaves arm themselves around Port Salut, Saint-Domingue. They are quickly dispersed and their leaders are hanged. The planned slave uprising begins in north-central Saint-Domingue. By mid-September, 200 sugar and 1,200 coffee plantations are destroyed, and 40,000 of northern Saint-Domingue’s 170,000 blacks are in open rebellion. -
took place from the summer of 1793 to the summer of 1794, was the most violent episode of the French Revolution. The Reign of Terror took place during a period sometimes referred to as the Montagnard Dictatorship, as the radical Montagnard faction dominated the French National Convention (the revolution's fourth legislature) and thereby controlled France's government. -
Toussaint Louverture led a successful slave revolt and emancipated the slaves in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti). A formidable military leader, he turned the colony into a country governed by former black slaves as a nominal French protectorate and made himself ruler of the entire island of Hispaniola. -
Under the leadership of Miranda, Venezuela declares its independence from Spain and establishes the First Venezuelan Republic. A royalist counteroffensive the next year, however, will bring the capital of Caracas back under royalist control and bring an end to the short-lived republic. -
Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), a South American revolutionary leader credited with leading the fight for independence in what are now countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, today's Panama and Bolivia. Born in Caracas into a wealthy family, As well as becoming a revolutionary, a military leader and a politician, he was a man of ideas and a gifted writer. More than anyone else, he was responsible for the liberation of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. -
The Congress of Vienna meets to decide the divisions of Europe following the defeat of Napoleon I in the Napoleonic Wars. Having previously fallen under French control, Sardinia (which receives Genoa), Tuscany, Modena, and the Papal States are all reconstituted. The duchies of Parma, Modena, Lucca, and Tuscany are given to members of the Habsburg family.