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St. Domingo

Saint-Domingue
Colony of France
1625–1804
Flag before the French Revolution Royal Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of France
Capital Cap-Français (1711–1770)

Port-au-Prince (1770–1804)

Languages French, French Creole
Religion Roman Catholicism
Government Monarchy (until 1792); Republic (1792–1804)
King
 •  1625–1643 Louis XIII
 •  1643–1715 Louis XIV
 •  1715–1774 Louis XV
 •  1774–1792 Louis XVI
Head of state of the French Republic
 •  1792–1795 National Convention
 •  1795–1799 French Directory
 •  1799–1804 Napoléon Bonaparte
History
 •  First French settlement 1625
 •  Recognized 1697
 •  Independence January 1, 1804
Area 21,550 km2 (8,320 sq mi)
Currency Saint-Domingue livre
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Captaincy General of Santo Domingo
First Empire of Haiti
Today part of  Haiti

Port-au-Prince (1770–1804)

Saint-Domingue (French pronunciation: ​[sɛ̃.dɔ.mɛ̃ɡ]) was a French colony on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola from 1659 to 1804. The French had established themselves on the western portion of the islands of Hispaniola and Tortuga by 1659. In the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, Spain formally recognized French control of Tortuga Island and the western third of the island of Hispaniola.

In 1791, the slaves and some free people of color of Saint-Domingue began waging a rebellion against French authority. The rebels became reconciled to French rule following the abolition of slavery in the colony in 1793, although this alienated the island's dominant slave-holding class. France controlled the entirety of Hispaniola from 1795 to 1802, when a renewed rebellion began. The last French troops withdrew from the western portion of the island in late 1803, and the colony later declared its independence as Haiti, its indigenous name, the following year.

Spain controlled the entire island of Hispaniola from the 1490s until the 17th century, when French pirates began establishing bases on the western side of the island. The official name was La Española, meaning "The Spanish (Island)". It was also called Santo Domingo or San Domingo, after Saint Dominic.

The western part of Hispaniola was neglected by the Spanish authorities, and French buccaneers began to settle first on the Tortuga Island, then on the northwest of the island: they called it le Grande Terre. Spain later ceded the entire western coast of the island to France, retaining the rest of the island, including the Guava Valley, today known as the Central Plateau.


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