KnowLA staff are currently working on this entry. The revolution
that began in Saint-Domingue in the West Indies in 1791 and
ended in 1804 was the only successful slave rebellion in
history. The revolt resulted in the establishment of the first
republic to be governed by black people. Of importance to
Louisiana, France’s loss of this significant colony ended
Napoléon Bonaparte’s dream of a North American empire and was a
major reason for his sale of the Louisiana Territory to the
United States in 1803. Because of the insurrection, many
refugees, including free people of color and white planters,
fled to Louisiana in the early 1800s. All told, there were more
émigrés to Louisiana from Saint-Domingue during that period than
Acadians a decade earlier. This influx of refuges added
significantly to the French-speaking population of the state at
a time when Anglo-Americans were vying with French Creoles for
supremacy in New Orleans, and it brought planters long practiced
in growing and refining sugar (which was jus