Revolution and independence 1.1 HAITI
What was the main export crop of Saint-Domingue, the future Haiti, which enriched France thanks to the forced labor of slaves before the Revolution?
25% of players answered correctly.
THE CORRECT ANSWER: Sugar
The French colony of Saint-Domingue was nicknamed the “pearl of the Antilles” because of its insolent economic prosperity, built entirely on the inhumane system of plantation slavery. By the 18th century, this island had become the world's leading producer and exporter of sugar, providing an immense share of European consumption.The cultivation of sugar cane required a considerable workforce and extremely violent working conditions, causing appalling mortality among the deported Africans. To maintain yields and replace the dead, France constantly intensified the slave trade.This exorbitant sugar wealth directly benefited large metropolitan ports like Nantes or Bordeaux, while exacerbating social and racial tensions there. It was precisely this ferocious and centralized exploitation around the sugar plains that sowed the seeds of the general slave revolt in 1791.