Vocab
This cash crop grown on Caribbean plantations—especially in Saint-Domingue—created huge profits for Europeans and drove the demand for enslaved labor.
What is sugar cane?
This system forcibly transported millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to work on plantations in the Americas.
What is the Transatlantic Slave Trade?
This formerly enslaved leader became the key general of the Haitian Revolution, organizing the uprising and leading the fight against French rule.
Who is Toussaint Louverture?
This Caribbean colony, once the richest in the world due to sugar plantations, became the site of the Haitian Revolution.
What is Saint-Domingue?
After winning independence in 1804, this nation became the first country in the world to permanently abolish...
What is slavery?
This term describes people of Spanish descent who were born in Latin America and led many independence movements but lacked top political power.
Who are the creoles?
This Caribbean island is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic
What is Hispaniola?
Known as “The Liberator,” this Venezuelan leader helped free much of northern South America from Spanish rule. The nation of Bolivia was named after him in honor.
Who is Simón Bolívar?
Harsh conditions and brutal punishments on plantations drove this group—90% of the population—to launch the revolution.
Who were the enslaved Africans?
This major 1803 battle was the final Haitian victory over France, forcing Napoleon’s troops to retreat.
What is the Battle of Vertières?
This vocabulary word refers to people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry, many of whom demanded more rights during the revolutions.
Who are the mestizos?
In Saint-Domingue (Haiti), this mixed-race group of free people pushed for equal rights before and during the Haitian Revolution, challenging the power of whites.
Who are free people of color (mulattoes)?
This Argentine Creole general left the Spanish army to fight for Latin American Independence against Spain. He sailed from Spain to Buenos Aires and became a military governor in Argentina, bringing Peru and Chile to independence.
Who is José de San Martín?
This 1791 religious ceremony, led by enslaved people, is often seen as the spark that began the Haitian Revolution.
What is the Bois Caïman ceremony?
In 1804, after defeating Napoleon’s forces, Haiti became the first nation in the world led by formerly enslaved people and the first independent one of these in the Americas.
What is free Black republic?
This word means “loyalty and devotion to one’s nation,” a major cause of independence movements across Latin America.
What is nationalism?
These strict laws in French colonies controlled the lives of enslaved people, regulating everything from their work and punishment to religion and family life.
What are the Black Codes (Code Noir)?
In 1780, this Indigenous leader in Peru launched a major rebellion against Spanish rule, becoming a symbol of resistance in the Andes. A famous rapper and activist was named after him!
Who is Túpac Amaru II?
In 1793, this French commissioner issued a proclamation in Saint-Domingue freeing the some of the colony’s enslaved people, hoping to gain their support against rebels and foreign invaders.
Who is Léger Félicité Sonthonax?
During the early French Revolution, this government granted limited citizenship rights to free people of color in 1791, angering white colonists in Saint-Domingue and helping spark the Haitian Revolution.
What is the National Assembly?
This term refers to people in Latin America who were born in Spain and held the highest social and political power.
Who are the peninsulares?
This forced labor system used by the Spanish required Indigenous people to work in silver/gold mines for no pay.
What is the mita system?
This priest led Mexico’s first major call for independence in 1810 with his famous speech, the “Grito de Dolores.”
Who is Miguel Hidalgo?
In 1801, Toussaint Louverture created a document for Saint-Domingue declaring himself governor for life and abolishing slavery, asserting the colony’s autonomy from France.
What is Toussaint Louverture’s 1801 Declaration (or Constitution of 1801)?
The Haitian Revolution ended in 1804 when this leader declared independence and renamed the colony Haiti after defeating Napoleon’s forces.
Who is Jean-Jacques Dessalines?