 | |
 France |  Haiti |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of France, Port-au-Prince | Embassy of Haiti, Paris |
| Envoy | |
| Ambassador Antoine Michon | Chargé d'Affaires Louino Volcy |
France–Haiti relations are foreign relations between France and Haiti. Both nations are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, United Nations, and the World Trade Organization.
The first French to arrive to Haiti were pirates who began to use the island of Tortuga (northern Haiti) in 1625 as a base and settlement for raids against Spanish ships. [1] In 1663, French settlers founded a colony in Léogâne, on the western portion of Hispaniola. After the Nine Years' War in 1697, the Spanish Empire ceded the western portion of Hispaniola with the signing of the Treaty of Ryswick that same year. France named the colony Saint-Domingue. [2] The colony was France's most productive and richest colony, and was made to grow primarily tobacco, indigo, sugar, cotton, and cacao. France used the labor of slaves from Africa, as a result of the near extinction of the Taíno people. [3]
From 1789 to 1799, France underwent a revolution. The revolution in France had great implications in Haiti. In August 1791, slaves in the northern region of Haiti staged a revolt which would be known as the Haitian Revolution. [2] In 1793, France sent as an envoy Léger-Félicité Sonthonax to maintain control and stabilize the colony from the revolution. In February 1793, Haitian leader Toussaint Louverture joined Spanish forces in fighting the French. [4] In October 1793, Sonthonax emancipated the slaves in all of Haiti. [4] In May 1794, Louverture left the Spanish army after they refused to free their slaves in the eastern part of Hispaniola.
In 1801, Louverture defeated the Spanish in Santo Domingo and emancipated the slaves of the territory. [4] In 1802, General Napoleon Bonaparte sent 40,000 French and Polish troops to Hispaniola. Soon afterwards, Napoleon's brother-in-law General Charles Leclerc asked to meet Louverture to discuss terms. It was a deception and Louverture was seized and deported to France where he died in April 1803. [5] After the death of Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines stood as leader of the independence struggle and continued battling French forces. After the battle of Battle of Vertières in November 1803, France abandoned all hope of retaining control over the colony. On 1 January 1804, Dessalines declared independence for Saint-Domingue and renamed the new nation 'Haiti'. [6]
France officially acknowledged Haitian independence in 1824. [7] [8] [9]
In 1825, French King Charles X demanded Haiti reimburse and compensate France for the loss of money and trade from Haiti's independence. France threatened to invade Haiti and sent 12 war ships to the island nation. [10] On 17 April 1825 an agreement was made between the two nations. France renounced all attempts to re-conquer Haiti and recognized Haiti as an independent nation after Haiti agreed to pay France 150 million gold francs in indemnity to the former colonists within five years. In November 1825, the first French consul presented his credentials to President Jean-Pierre Boyer. [11] On 12 February 1838, a 'Treaty of Peace and Friendship' was signed between both nations. [12]
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between, both nations have signed several agreements and treaties, such as an agreement on commerce (1958); treaty on trade (1959); agreement on air transportation between both nations (1965); agreement on cultural, scientific and technical cooperation (1972); convention on the protection of investments (1973); cooperation on tourism (2007) and an agreement on joint research and of professional training (2015). [13]
Since independence, France continued to play an important role in Haitian affairs. Several Haitian Presidents ousted from power sought refuge in France, such as Presidents Jean-Pierre Boyer, Lysius Salomon, Franck Lavaud and Jean-Claude Duvalier. In December 1993, France asked the United Nations to tighten sanctions on Haiti after the removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power by the military in September 1991. [14]
In February 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid a visit to Haiti, the first by a French President. [15] During his visit, President Sarkozy promised Haiti €230 million EUR in aid after the island nation suffered its worst earthquake in its history. President Sarkozy also announced the cancellation of €56 million EUR debt owed by Haiti to France. [15] In May 2015, French President François Hollande paid an official visit to Haiti and promised $145 million USD in development projects within the island nation. [16]
In 2017, trade between both France and Haiti totaled €69 million EUR. [17] France's main exports to Haiti include: manufactured products, clothing, mechanical equipment, dairy products, and medicines. Haiti's main exports to France include: fruits and vegetables, beverage plants (cocoa and coffee), distilled alcoholic beverages (rum), ready meals, and spice plants. [17]
France actively supports the Haitian National Police with training, technical assistance, and equipment. Through the French Embassy, the HPN has received drones, laptops, light and armored vehicles, weapons, night vision equipment, personal protection equipment, among other things. France's elite police unit RAID trained what is now known as the Tactical Anti-Gang Unit (Unité Tactique Anti-Gang), [18] and other units like GIPNH (Groupe d'Intervention de la Police National d'Haiti), BLTS (Brigade de Lutte contre le Trafique de Stupéfiants), BLVV (Brigade de Lutte contre le Vol de Vehicules) etc. [19]
As of November 2024, France as begun cooperating militarily with Haiti, by providing continuing training to the Armed Forces of Haiti via the Forces Armées aux Antilles, in a partnership named "SABRE Haiti". An initial contingent of 25 servicemembers of the Haitian Army travelled to Martinique to undergo training courses by the 33rd Marine Infantry Regiment, that covered learning about the FAMAS and mastering individual weaponry, open-area combat, shooting, obstacle course, urban combat techniques, vehicle search and combat first aid. [20] [21] [22] The French Ambassador to Haiti, Antoine Michon, declared the military cooperation between the two nations going into 2025. [23] An official note from the Haitian ministry a meeting between Haitian defense minister Jean-Michel Moïse and the French Ambassador stated that a new technical arrangement would be signed by the Ministries of Defense of both countries to train a new enlisted class starting February 2025. [24]
The recorded history of Haiti began in 1492, when the European captain and explorer Christopher Columbus landed on a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. The western portion of the island of Hispaniola, where Haiti is situated, was inhabited by the Taíno and Arawakan people, who called their island Ayiti. The island was promptly claimed for the Spanish Crown, where it was named La Isla Española, later Latinized to Hispaniola. By the early 17th century, the French had built a settlement on the west of Hispaniola and called it Saint-Domingue. Prior to the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the economy of Saint-Domingue gradually expanded, with sugar and, later, coffee becoming important export crops. After the war which had disrupted maritime commerce, the colony underwent rapid expansion. In 1767, it exported indigo, cotton and 72 million pounds of raw sugar. By the end of the century, the colony encompassed a third of the entire Atlantic slave trade.
Hispaniola is an island between Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by land area, after Cuba. The 76,192-square-kilometre (29,418 sq mi) island is divided into two separate sovereign countries: the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic (48,445 km2 to the east and the French and Haitian Creole–speaking Haiti (27,750 km2 to the west. The only other divided island in the Caribbean is Saint Martin, which is shared between France and the Netherlands.
Jean-Pierre Boyer was one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution, and the president of Haiti from 1818 to 1843. He reunited the north and south of the country into the Republic of Haiti in 1820 and also annexed the newly independent Spanish Haiti, which brought all of Hispaniola under one Haitian government by 1822. Serving as president for just under 25 years, Boyer managed to rule for the longest period of time of any Haitian leader.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines was the first Haitian Emperor, leader of the Haitian Revolution, and the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1805 constitution. Initially regarded as governor-general, Dessalines was later named Emperor of Haiti as Jacques I (1804–1806) by generals of the Haitian Revolutionary army and ruled in that capacity until being assassinated in 1806. He spearheaded the resistance against French rule of Saint-Domingue, and eventually became the architect of the 1804 massacre of the remaining French residents of newly independent Haiti, including some supporters of the revolution. Alongside Toussaint Louverture, he has been referred to as one of the fathers of the nation of Haiti. Dessalines was directly responsible for the country, and, under his rule, Haiti became the first country in the Americas to permanently abolish slavery.
Saint-Domingue was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1697 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer specifically to the Spanish-held Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, now the Dominican Republic. The borders between the two were fluid and changed over time until they were finally solidified in the Dominican War of Independence in 1844.
The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known slave uprising in human history that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery and ruled by non-whites and former captives.
George Biassou was an early leader of the 1791 slave rising in Saint-Domingue that began the Haitian Revolution. With Jean-François and Jeannot, he was prophesied by the vodou priest Dutty Boukman to lead the revolution.
The Haitian Revolution and the subsequent independence of Haiti as an independent state provoked mixed reactions in the United States. Among many white Americans, this led to uneasiness, instilling fears of racial instability on its own soil and possible problems with foreign relations and trade between the two countries. Among enslaved black Americans, it fueled hope that the principles of the recent American Revolution might be realized in their own liberation. While the Haitian Revolution was occurring during the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams, members of the Federalist Party including Alexander Hamilton supported Toussaint Louverture and his revolution. John Adams appointed Edward Stevens as US consul-general to Haiti to forge a closer relationship between the two nations and express US support for Louverture's government.
The Republic of Haiti is located on western portion of the island Hispaniola in the Caribbean. Haiti declared its independence from France in the aftermath of the first successful slave revolution in the Americas in 1804, and their identification as conquerors of a racially repressed society is a theme echoed throughout Haiti's history.
The Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo was the annexation and merger of then-independent Republic of Spanish Haiti into the Republic of Haiti, that lasted twenty-two years, from February 9, 1822, to February 27, 1844. The part of Hispaniola under Spanish administration was first ceded to France and merged with the French colony of Saint Domingue as a result of the Peace of Basel in 1795. However, with the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution the French lost the western part of the island, while remaining in control of the eastern part of the island until the Spanish recaptured Santo Domingo in 1809.
The Armed Forces of Haiti are the military forces of the Republic of Haiti, is composed of the Haitian Army, the Haitian Navy, and the Haitian Aviation Corps. The Force has about 2000 active personnel as of 2023, with the army and aviation corps being active, and navy personnel still in the works.
Originating from the Army of Saint-Domingue (1791–1803), then the Indigenous Army (1803–1915), the Haitian Army is the land component of the Armed Forces of Haiti. It is the largest branch of the armed forces since its reinstatement in 2017 by then President Jovenel Moïse.
Dominican Republic–Haiti relations are the diplomatic relations between the nations of Dominican Republic and Haiti. Relations have long been hostile due to substantial ethnic and cultural differences, historic conflicts, territorial disputes, and sharing the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The living standards in the Dominican Republic are considerably higher than those in Haiti. The economy of the Dominican Republic is ten times larger than that of Haiti. The migration of impoverished Haitians and historical differences have contributed to long-standing conflicts.
The nations of Haiti and Mexico established consular relations in 1882 and formal diplomatic relations were established in 1929. Both nations are members of Association of Caribbean States, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Organization of American States and the United Nations.
French Haitians, also called Franco-Haitians are citizens of Haiti of full or partial French ancestry. The term is sometimes also applied to Haitians who migrated to France in the 20th and 21st century and who have acquired French citizenship, as well to their descendants.
Dominican Republic–Spain relations are the bilateral relations between the Dominican Republic and Spain. Both nations are members of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language and the Organization of Ibero-American States.
The Indigenous Army, also known as the Army of Saint-Domingue was the name bestowed to the coalition of anti-slavery men and women who fought in the Haitian Revolution in Saint-Domingue. Encompassing both black slaves, maroons, and affranchis, the rebels were not officially titled the Armée indigène until January 1803, under the leadership of then-general Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Predated by insurrectionists such as François Mackandal, Vincent Ogé and Dutty Boukman, Toussaint Louverture, succeeded by Dessalines, led, organized, and consolidated the rebellion. The now full-fledged fighting force utilized its manpower advantage and strategic capacity to overwhelm French troops, ensuring the Haitian Revolution was the most successful of its kind.
Haiti–Taiwan relations or ROC–Haitian relations refer to the bilateral relations between the Republic of Haiti and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Haiti maintains an embassy in Taipei and Taiwan maintains an embassy in Port-au-Prince.
The Aviation Corps of the Armed Forces of Haiti is the air force component of the Armed Forces of Haiti. The air corps was disbanded along with the rest of the armed forces after Operation Uphold Democracy, the US invasion of 1994.
Colombia–Haiti relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Haiti. Both countries have maintained a friendly relationship since the time of Colombia's independence in 1820. The two nations are members of the Organization of American States, Association of Caribbean States, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the United Nations.
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