Haiti, the “Jewel of the Antilles”, was once the richest colony in the world, providing half of France’s gross national product in the 1750s.From the excellent OECD Insights Blog.
Haiti, the “Jewel of the Antilles”, was once the richest colony in the world, providing half of France’s gross national product in the 1750s.From the excellent OECD Insights Blog.
It's nice that Haiti was once the "Jewel of the Antilles". It's just a pity that the enslaved population were unable to enjoy the distinction. Also, it's easy to have a colony that's producing half your gross national product when you don't have to pay the workforce anything. And I suppose any Haitian slave who queried his 'terms and conditions' would swiftly find himself hanging from the nearest tree! All credit to them, they achieved the near-impossible by winning their freedom in 1804, and against Napoleon Bonaparte, of all people! Although France never forgave them for the humiliation, starving them of trade, while the slave-owning United States consistently undermined them until their own emancipation of the slaves in 1863. Yes, the Haitians have paid a heavy price for freedom.
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