The first and last king of Haiti - Marlene Daut

603,226 views ・ 2019-10-07

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

["Viv lib se pa senpman wete chenn pa w,
viv lib se viv yon jan ki respekte epi anrichi libète lòt moun." Nelson Mandela]
00:06
The royal couple of Haiti rode into their coronation to thunderous applause.
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Gwo bravo te akeyi koup wayal Ayiti a lè yo te rive pou pran kouwòn.
00:11
After receiving his ornate crown and scepter,
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Apre li fin resevwa kouwòn ak baton kouvri ak pyèr epi desen
00:14
Henry Christophe ascended his throne, towering 20 meters in the air.
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Henry Christophe chita sou twòn li, ki te monte rive wo wo - 20 mèt wi.
00:19
But little did the cheering onlookers know that the first king of Haiti
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Men, moun sa yo ki t ap bat bèl bravo yo pa te fouti konnen ke premye wa Ayiti a
00:23
would also be its last.
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se li ki t ap dènye wa peyi a tou.
00:25
Enslaved at birth on the island of Grenada,
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Se depi Christophe te fèt, yo te mete li nan esklavaj sou zile Grenad.
00:28
Christophe spent his childhood being moved between multiple Caribbean islands.
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Pandan li te timoun yo te balote li pami plizyè zile nan Karayib la.
00:33
Just 12 years old in 1779,
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Li te gen apèn 12 zan an 1779 lè li te akonpaye mèt li
00:36
he accompanied his master to aid the American revolutionaries
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ki t al ede Revolisyonè Ameriken yo nan batay Savannah.
00:39
in the Battle of Savannah.
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00:41
This prolonged siege would be Christophe’s first encounter with violent revolution.
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Goumen manch long sa a se premye fwa Christophe te viv vyolans yon revolisyon.
00:47
There are few surviving written records
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Apèn si gen kèk dokiman ki ekri sou lavi Christophe touswit apre lagè a.
00:49
about Christophe’s life immediately after the war.
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00:52
Over the next decade,
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Nan pwochen deseni ki pral vini an nou konnen li pral fè bòs mason
00:53
we know he worked as a mason and a waiter at a hotel
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epi sèvè nan yon otèl nan ansyen koloni franse a Sen Domeng,
00:56
in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, as Haiti was then known.
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peyi ki pral vin rele Ayiti a.
01:00
In 1791, when the colony’s slaves rose up in rebellion,
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Nan lane 1791, lè esklav yo nan koloni a lanse revolisyon an,
01:05
Christophe got another opportunity to fight for freedom.
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Christophe jwenn yon lòt chans batay pou libète.
01:08
Led by Toussaint Louverture, the rebels fought against plantation owners,
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Avèk Toussaint Louverture kòm chèf, rebèl yo goumen kont plantè yo,
01:13
as well as British and Spanish forces seeking control of the island.
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epitou kont lame Grann Bretay ak Espay ki t ap chèche pran kontwòl zile a.
01:17
Christophe quickly rose through the ranks,
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Christophe pran grad byen vit,
01:19
proving himself the equal of more experienced generals.
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li montre li menm nivo ak jeneral ki gen eksperyans pase li.
01:23
By 1793,
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Rive 1793, Louverture reyisi libere tout moun ki rele "esklav" nan Sen Domeng.
01:24
Louverture had successfully liberated all of Saint-Domingue’s enslaved people,
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01:29
and by 1801 he’d established the island as a semi-autonomous colony.
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Rive 1801 menm li fè zile a tounen yon koloni semi-otonòm.
01:34
But during this time, Napoleon Bonaparte had assumed power in France,
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Men, pandan tan sa a, Napoleon Bonaparte te pran pouvwa an Frans,
01:38
and made it his mission to restore slavery and French authority
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e li bay tèt li misyon retabli esklavaj ak otorite Lafrans nan tout koloni yo.
01:42
throughout the empire.
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01:44
French attempts to reinstate slavery met fierce resistance,
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Lè Lafrans eseye remete esklavaj, sa kreye gwo rezistans.
01:47
with General Christophe even burning the capital city
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Jeneral Christophe menm rive boule kapital la pou anpeche okipasyon.
01:50
to prevent military occupation.
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01:53
Finally, the rebellion and an outbreak of yellow fever
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Finalman, revolisyon mete ak fyèv jòn vin fòse sòlda franse yo kraze rak.
01:56
forced French soldiers to withdraw— but the fight was not without casualties.
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Men, batay la te gentan fè viktim.
02:01
Louverture was captured, and left to die in a French prison;
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Yo arete Louverture, epi yo fèmen li pou li mouri nan prizon Lafrans.
02:05
a fate that Christophe’s nine-year-old son would share only a few years later.
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Kèk ane pita, se menm malè sa a ki pral tonbe sou
pwòp pitit gason Christophe ki te gen apèn 9 an.
02:10
Following the revolution,
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Apre revolisyon an, Christophe ak jeneral
02:12
Christophe and generals Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Alexandre Pétion
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Jean-Jacques Dessalines ansamn ak Alexandre Pétion
02:16
rose to prominent positions in the new government.
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pral gwo chèf nan nouvo gouvènman an.
02:19
In 1804, Dessalines was proclaimed the emperor of independent Haiti.
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An 1804, Desalin vin pwoklame tèt li anperè nan yon Ayiti ki endepandan.
02:24
But his desire to hold exclusive power alienated his supporters.
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Men, nan vle kenbe pouvwa pou li menm sèl, li vin fache ak moun ki t ap kore li yo.
02:29
Eventually, Dessalines’ rule incited a political conspiracy
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Se kon sa rejim Desalin nan te vin ankouraje yon konplo politik
02:33
that ended in his assassination in 1806.
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ki fè yo asasine li an 1806.
02:36
The subsequent power struggle led to a Civil War, which split the country in two.
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Batay pou pouvwa fè peyi a chavire nan yon gè sivil, ki fann peyi a an de.
02:41
By 1807, Christophe was governing as president of the north in Cap-Haïtien,
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Rive 1807, Christophe te prezidan pou nò peyi a Okap,
02:47
and Pétion was ruling the south from Port-au-Prince.
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epi Pétion te dirije sid la apati Pòtoprens.
02:50
Pétion tried to stay true to the revolution’s democratic roots
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Pétion te eseye rete nan menm lespri demokratik revolisyon an.
02:54
by modeling his republic after the United States.
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Se pou sa li te fè yon repiblik sou modèl Etazini.
02:57
He even supported anti-colonial revolutionaries in other nations.
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Li te menm kore revolisyonè lòt bò dlo ki t ap goumen kont sistèm kolonyal la.
03:01
These policies endeared him to his people,
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Demach sa yo te vin fè pèp li te renmen li anpil.
03:03
but they slowed trade and economic growth.
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Men, sa te vin fè komès ak kwasans ekonomik te vin ralanti.
03:07
Christophe, conversely, had more aggressive plans for an independent Haiti.
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Christophe, o kontrè, te gen pwogram ki pi agresif pou yon Ayiti ki endepandan.
03:11
He redistributed land to the people, while retaining state control of agriculture.
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Li te distribye tè bay pèp la, pandan ke Leta rete kontwòle agrikilti.
03:15
He also established trade with many foreign nations,
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Li te fè komès tou ak anpil peyi etranje,
03:18
including Great Britain and the United States,
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pami yo Grann Bretay ak Etazini,
03:21
and pledged non-interference with their foreign policies.
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epi li te pwomèt yo ke li pa t ap rantre nan koze yo ak lòt peyi.
03:24
He even built a massive Citadel in case the French tried to invade again.
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Li te menm bati yon kokennchenn Sitadèl pou si Lafrans ta eseye anvayi ankò.
03:28
To accomplish all of this, Christophe instituted mandatory labor,
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Pou rive fè tout bagay sa a yo, Christophe te etabli yon sistèm kòve.
03:32
and to strengthen his authority, he crowned himself king in 1811.
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Epi tou pou ranfòse otorite li, li kouwone tèt li wa nan 1811.
03:37
During his reign, he lived in an elegant palace called Sans Souci
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Pandan rejim li a, li te rete nan yon bèl palè yo rele Sans Souci
03:41
along with his wife and their three remaining children.
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ansanm ak madanm li epi twa pitit yo ki te rete yo.
03:44
Christophe’s kingdom oversaw rapid development of trade, industry, culture,
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Nan wayom Christophe la, komès, endistri, kilti, ak edikasyon te devlope vit.
03:49
and education.
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03:50
He imported renowned European artists to Haiti’s cultural scene,
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Li te fè rantre gwo atis Ewopeyen vin patisipe nan aktivite kiltirèl ann Ayiti.
03:54
as well as European teachers, in order to establish public education.
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Pwofesè ewopeyen te vini tou pou tabli edikasyon piblik.
03:58
But while the king was initially popular among his subjects,
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Men, alòs ke nan kòmansman sijè yo te kontan wa a anpil anpil,
04:01
his labor mandates were an uncomfortable reminder
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kòve yo bay move souvni sistèm esklavaj la ke Ayisyen te goumen rèd pou yo aboli.
04:04
of the slavery Haitians fought to destroy.
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04:07
Over time, his increasingly authoritarian policies lost support,
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Rive yon tan, moun vin pa dakò ak politik li yo ki t ap pi otoritè chak jou,
04:12
and his opponents to the south gained strength.
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epi opozisyon li yo nan sid la vin pran plis fòs.
04:14
In October 1820, his reign finally reached its tragic conclusion.
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Nan mwa oktòb 1820, rejim Christophe la vin fini mal nèt.
04:20
Months after a debilitating stroke left him unable to govern,
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Plizyè mwa apre yon konjesyon serebral te vin fè wa a twò fèb pou li gouvène,
04:24
key members of his military defected to southern forces.
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ofisye wo nivo nan lame li vin abandone li al jwenn twoup sid yo.
04:27
Betrayed and despondent, the king committed suicide.
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Devan trayizyon sa a epi dekourajman, wa a tiye tèt li.
04:32
Today, the traces of Christophe’s complicated history
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Jodi a, ou ka wè tras istwa konplike Christophe la
04:35
can still be found in the crumbling remains of his palaces,
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nan ruin palè li yo,
04:39
and in Haiti’s legacy as the first nation to permanently abolish slavery.
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epi nan eritaj Ayiti kòm premye nasyon ki aboli esklavaj pou tout tan.
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