1743

Francois Dominique Toussaint Louverture is born on the plantation of Breda located on the northern region of Saint-Domingue.  He will later be known as the “Liberator of the Slaves” and the “Architect of Haitian Independence”

1749

November 26

The city of Port-au-Prince is founded and officially declared to be the capital of the colony by the King of France.  Its founder, Charles Brunier, Marquis of Larnage, Governor-General of Saint-Domingue from 1737 to 1746, relentlessly toiled to design and construct the city as the capital.  It is named after the vessel Prince, which came ashore at a gulf on the western region of Saint-Domingue.  The natural and very convenient harbor was first called Port-au-Prince after the vessel.

1751-1757

Mackandal, a legendary maroon slave, organizes several rebellions in the northern region of Saint-Doming.

1757

Henri Christophe is born on the British-held island of Grenada.  He will be known as the great visionary of the Haitian civilization.

1758

Mackandal, the rebellious slave, is captured and executed in the public square of Cap-Francais in the northern region of St-Domingue.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the Founder of the Haitian Nation, is born in the northern region of St-Domingue.

1776

Louis Boisrond-Tonnerre, the author of the Haitian Act of Independence, is born.

1778

A group of slave army volunteers leave St-Domingue for Savannah, Georgia, under the command of the French admiral, Count d’Estaing, to help in the United States War of Independence.

1789-1790

Ideas of the French Revolution, of the Declaration of Human Rights and of Liberty and Equality begin to spread in Saint-Domingue.

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