rought the government deeply in debt and crippled the country's economy.

As if to add salt to an already festering sore, the great slave owning powers of that time in human history, France, Spain, Britain and even the fledgling United States of America, which Haitians had helped in its time of needs to survive the onslaught of a British invasion, have mounted a total economic boycott against Haiti. This concerted but unwarranted economi

The present high level of poverty of the common people in Haiti today has its roots in the turbulent history of the first Black Republic in the world. After destroying the Napoleonic Army on the bloody battlefields of Verti?res, liberating themselves from French colonialism and slavery, and thus proclaimed the independence of Haiti in 1804, Haiti's new ruling elites were confronted with a daunting choice: restoring the economy by re-instating the sugar plantation system or preserving emancipation by allowing small and inefficient land holdings. The Haitian people resisted to a return of the system of forced labor that is required to maintain the sugar plantations; which they regarded as the other side of the coin of slavery. They instead demanded economic independence and an equitable land distribution for all. The decision to do away with the erstwhile profitable plantation system into small peasant farm holder began a process of reducing the earning power of the newly liberated citizens of Haiti, and hence the economic clout of the ‘Jewel of the Antilles’.

A few years after the decision was taken to liberalize land ownership, which translated into drastic reduction in foreign exchange earnings of the new republic, in order for the populace to feel truly liberated, a grave danger to the very existence of the new republic surfaced. This was a threat from the shameless defeated colonial power France to invade Haiti anew. A French naval force was already strategically positioned in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Cap Ha?tien. France has emphatically hrefused to recognize Haiti's independence until it agreed to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to compensate for the losses of French planters in the slave revolution. Payment of this indemnity brought the government deeply in debt and crippled the country's economy.

As if to add salt to an already festering sore, the great slave owning powers of that time in human history, France, Spain, Britain and even the fledgling United States of America, which Haitians had helped in its time of needs to survive the onslaught of a British invasion, have mounted a total economic boycott against Haiti. This concerted but unwarranted economic

the sugar plantation system or preserving emancipation by allowing small and inefficient land holdings. The Haitian people resisted to a return of the system of forced labor that is required to maintain the sugar plantations; which they regarded as the other side of the coin of slavery. They instead demanded economic independence and an equitable land distribution for all. The decision to do away with the erstwhile profitable plantation system into small peasant farm holder began a process of reducing the earning power of the newly liberated citizens of Haiti, and hence the economic clout of the ‘Jewel of the Antilles’.

A few years after the decision was taken to liberalize land ownership, which translated into drastic reduction in foreign exchange earnings of the new republic, in order for the populace to feel truly liberated, a grave danger to the very existence of the new republic surfaced. This was a threat from the shameless defeated colonial power France to invade Haiti anew. A French naval force was already strategically positioned in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Cap Ha?tien. France has emphatically hrefused to recognize Haiti's independence until it agreed to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to compensate for the losses of French planters in the slave revolution. Payment of this indemnity brought the government deeply in debt and crippled the country's economy.

As if to add salt to an already festering sore, the great slave owning powers of that time in human history, France, Spain, Britain and even the fledgling United States of America, which Haitians had helped in its time of needs to survive the onslaught of a British invasion, have mounted a total economic boycott against Haiti. This concerted but unwarranted economi

em into small peasant farm holder began a process of reducing the earning power of the newly liberated citizens of Haiti, and hence the economic clout of the ‘Jewel of the Antilles’.

A few years after the decision was taken to liberalize land ownership, which translated into drastic reduction in foreign exchange earnings of the new republic, in order for the populace to feel truly liberated, a grave danger to the very existence of the new republic surfaced. This was a threat from the shameless defeated colonial power France to invade Haiti anew. A French naval force was already strategically positioned in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Cap Ha?tien. France has emphatically hrefused to recognize Haiti's independence until it agreed to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to compensate for the losses of French planters in the slave revolution. Payment of this indemnity brought the government deeply in debt and crippled the country's economy.

As if to add salt to an already festering sore, the great slave owning powers of that time in human history, France, Spain, Britain and even the fledgling United States of America, which Haitians had helped in its time of needs to survive the onslaught of a British invasion, have mounted a total economic boycott against Haiti. This concerted but unwarranted economi

ew republic surfaced. This was a threat from the shameless defeated colonial power France to invade Haiti anew. A French naval force was already strategically positioned in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Cap Ha?tien. France has emphatically hrefused to recognize Haiti's independence until it agreed to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs to compensate for the losses of French planters in the slave revolution. Payment of this indemnity brought the government deeply in debt and crippled the country's economy.

As if to add salt to an already festering sore, the great slave owning powers of that time in human history, France, Spain, Britain and even the fledgling United States of America, which Haitians had helped in its time of needs to survive the onslaught of a British invasion, have mounted a total economic boycott against Haiti. This concerted but unwarranted economi

rought the government deeply in debt and crippled the country's economy.

As if to add salt to an already festering sore, the great slave owning powers of that time in human history, France, Spain, Britain and even the fledgling United States of America, which Haitians had helped in its time of needs to survive the onslaught of a British invasion, have mounted a total economic boycott against Haiti. This concerted but unwarranted economic embargo on Haiti, along with payment of the imposed indemnity of 150 million francs to France, when taken together could be said to be the second root cause of Haitian poverty. The effects of these punitive measures are still felt by the common people of Haiti up till today.

However, one historically important contributive cause to Haitian poverty is the inherent instability of Haiti’s political terrain. The period between the expulsion of President Boyer in 1843, after he capitulated to France’s demand for indemnity, and the first American invasion in 1915; is generally regarded as the chaotic era in Haitian history. A notable historian of the period, Leyburn, summarizes this chaotic era in Haitian history as follow: "Of the twenty-two heads of state between 1843 and 1915, only one served out his prescribed term of office, three died while serving, one was blown up with his palace, one presumably poisoned, one hacked to pieces by a mob, one resigned. The other fourteen were deposed by revolution after incumbencies ranging in length from three months to twelve years."

This extremely high level of political instability contributed in no small measure to deprive Haitians the peaceful environment needed for economic empowerment, which would have translated to their economic growth. The period of the first American occupation of Haiti, though frequently touted as one of relative peace and progress in infrastructural development, was more of a peace of the graveyard. Several rebellions against the American occupation by Haitian nationalists were brutally put down. In one such incident, over two thousand Haitians, popularly known as ‘cacos’, were killed by the American marines as they were protesting American racism and economic deprivation.