Henri Christophe
place where the slave revolt started
Henri Christophe
Christophe, Henri (1767-1820), Haitian president (1807-1811) and king (1811-1820), born on the island of Grenada. After fighting at Savannah, Georgia, during the American Revolution, Christophe went to the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), where he joined with black insurgents fighting against the French in 1790 and became one of their leaders.
commemorating the slave freedom fighters
The black
revolutionist François Toussaint L’Ouverture appointed him brigadier
general. In 1806 Christophe and Haitian general Alexandre Pétion secured the overthrow of the self-proclaimed emperor Jean Jacques Dessalines, who was
assassinated. In 1807 Christophe had himself proclaimed president of northern
Haiti. A short civil war broke out between Christophe and Pétion. In 1811
Christophe proclaimed himself king as Henri I.
His reign was tyrannical, but he improved the
economy of the country, ensuring its
annuity and
stability
for years to come.
Sans Souci Palace
top view of ruins
A notable builder, he constructed the Sans Souci Palace and the fortress near Cap-Haïtien called Citadelle Laferrière.
Citadelle Laferrière
When he was incapacitated by a stroke in 1820, insurrection broke out, and the deserted king shot himself.
preserved as a park
the Citadelle
the cannon laboriously dragged up the mountain
