Key dates in Haiti's history

Friday, January 2, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): A chronology of Haiti's troubled history as the country celebrates 200 years of independence:

1492: Christopher Columbus arrives on the island, which becomes known as Hispaniola.

1517: Black African slaves start to arrive after the extermination of native Indians.

1659: The French start to colonise the western part of the island, which is now Haiti.

1791: Francois Toussaint Louverture, a former slave, leads a slaves uprising.

1794: Slavery is abolished.

1802: Napoleon orders slavery resumed in French colonies and sends a huge army to Haiti.

1803: Haitian general Jean-Jacques Dessalines beats French military leader Donatien Rochambeau. About 55,000 French soldiers die, many killed by yellow fever.

1804: Haiti declares itself independent and Dessalines becomes Emperor Jacques I. He is assassinated two years later.

1825: France recognises Haiti's sovereignty in return for 150 million francs for French colonists, a huge sum at the time. Haiti paid 90 million francs.

1843: The eastern part of the island becomes the Dominican Republic.

1915-34: Haiti is occupied by the United States, which faces a guerrilla war.

1946-56: Presidents Elie Lescot, Dumarsais Estime and Paul Eugene Magloire are toppled in coups d'etat.

1957: Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier takes power with army support after fixed elections. Duvalier establishes a dictatorship using his "Tontons Macoutes" militia to scare opponents.

1971: Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier becomes 'president for life' after the death of his father.

1986: Duvalier is toppled in a popular uprising and the army takes power.

1990: Father Jean Bertrand Aristide, a former shanty town priest, is elected president. He is toppled in a military coup in December 1991.

1994: A US military intervention with 20,000 soldiers brings Aristide back from exile.

2000: Aristide wins a presidential election that the opposition boycotted and said was fixed.

2001: New troubles start with what the authorities call an attempted coup in December that leaves 13 dead. Unrest spreads in 2002 and 2003 despite the calling of new elections under an accord negotiated by the Organisation of American States.

2004: Haiti celebrates 200 years of independence. 

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