A devastating economic blow occurred in the mid-nineteenth century, when Europe learned to produce sugar from a temperate-zone crop, beets, rather than from tropical sugar cane. World sugar prices collapsed, and Haiti fell into deeper disarray.
19世纪中叶，欧洲人掌握了用温带作物甜菜制糖的技术，不再依赖热带的甘蔗，从而引起了一场毁灭性的经济打击。全球食糖价格暴跌，海地陷入更严重的混乱之中。极度的贫困造成了文化程度的低下和可怕的政治环境，而这些又反过来加剧了饥荒、疾病和动荡。