- History of the flag
- French colonization
- Pre-independence movements
- Liberté ou la Mort
- Haitian independence
- Haiti Division
- First Republic of Haiti
- State of Haiti and Kingdom of Haiti
- Reunification of the island of Hispaniola
- Boyer's fall
- Second Empire of Haiti
- Return of the republic
- Duvalier dictatorship
- Democracy
- Meaning of the flag
- References
The flag of Haiti is the national symbol that represents in any field this republic of the Caribbean. It is made up of two horizontal stripes of the same size. Blue is at the top, while red is at the bottom. In the center there is a white box that includes the country's coat of arms.
The origins of the Haitian flag date back to 1803, when a bicolor flag was approved for the first time. Royalist French pavilions had previously been used and after the French Revolution in the then colony the French tricolor flew.
Current flag of Haiti. ((colors and size changes of the now deletied versions) Madden, Vzb83, Denelson83, Chanheigeorge, Zscout370 and NightstallionCoat of arms: Lokal_Profil and Myriam Thyes, via Wikimedia Commons).
Haiti has experienced constant changes of political regime, between dictatorships, divisions of the territory and monarchical attempts. All of this has been reflected in a rich way in the history of the Haitian flag, which has been modified many times during its two centuries of independence.
Initially, the flag adopted the colors of the French flag without white. His conception indicated the union between the mulattoes and the blacks, and the exclusion of the white represented precisely the expulsion of the French whites from the country. The current flag has been in effect since 1986.
History of the flag
Before the arrival of Europeans, what is now known as the island of Hispaniola was populated by the Arawak, Taíno and Carib Indians. However, the island was called by different names by the aborigines: one of them was Haiti. The first contact with Europeans was the landing of Christopher Columbus on his first voyage in 1492.
The flags arrived in Haiti with the Europeans. The first to appear on the island was the Spanish flag, when Columbus sailed for that country. By the 16th century, the Spanish abandoned the western half of the island due to the lack of mineral resources. That generated that for the seventeenth century the French settled in the territory.
French colonization
The French entered the west of the island of Hispaniola, scattered, but with force. In 1654 the first city of the future colony was created, which was called Petit-Goâve.
The first governor arrived in 1665. After the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 Spain gave up claiming sovereignty over the area. Thus was officially born the colony of Saint-Domingue.
Throughout the colonial period, Saint-Domingue used the monarchical French flags. These consisted mainly of white or blue flags with fleurs-de-lis, in addition to royal shields.
Symbols of the Kingdom of France (XIV-XVI centuries). (Patricia.fidi, from Wikimedia Commons).
The French Revolution changed the political reality of the metropolis and of all the colonies. The French political movement, which first established a constitutional monarchy and then a republic and which occurred between 1789 and 1799, modified the entire social structure and future of Saint-Domingue.
The tricolor of three vertical stripes of blue, white and red was imposed as the French flag in 1794, after two previous attempts at modification in 1790. Governor Toussaint Louverture imposed it on the colony in 1798.
Flag of France. (Par Deutsch: Diese Grafik wurde von SKopp erstellt.English: This graphic was drawn by SKopp.Español: This file was made by user SKopp.Suomi: Tämän grafiikan on piirtänyt SKopp.Filipino: Ginuhit ni SKopp ang grapikong ito.Portugu: Porto This graphic was unpacked using SKopp.Slovenčina: Tento obrázok bol vytvorený redaktorom SKopp.Tagalog: Ginuhit ni SKopp ang grapikong ito., Via Wikimedia Commons).
Pre-independence movements
The colony of Saint-Domingue changed its reality and becoming political through the leadership of Toussaint Louverture. This military man managed to impose and demonstrate his value in the territory of the colony and before the French authorities. His power grew until he was appointed Governor of Saint-Domingue by the French authorities.
The will of Louverture was the establishment of an autonomy that would allow the colony a self-government where there was equality with blacks and mulattos, who constituted the vast majority of the population.
However, the 1801 constitution approved by Louverture did not receive the support of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had already established a dictatorship in France.
Faced with this, French troops invaded the territory without success, although they managed to arrest Louverture, who died in a French jail in 1803.
Liberté ou la Mort
The pro-independence insurgents did not take long to emerge. With them came the first flags. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, leader of the black insurgents, and Alexandre Pétion, mulatto leader, expanded the conflict. Dessalines imposed on the Congress of Arcahaie in 1803 a flag based on the French tricolor.
The origin of the flag was in a battle that took place in Plaine du Cul-de-Sac between French soldiers and insurgents. The natives continued to use the French flag, to which the French argued that they had no desire to become independent. Pétion raised the problem with Dessalines.
The flag designed by Dessalines ended up excluding the white, who identified with the settlers, and joining the two colors in representation of blacks and mulattoes.
Its first design was made by Catherine Flon. The motto Liberté ou la Mort (Liberty or Death) was added to the colors. This was the flag used during the Haitian independence process.
Haitian independence flag (1803). (Saul ip, via Wikimedia Commons).
Haitian independence
The New Year of 1804 brought the official declaration of the independence of Haiti after the capitulation of the French troops. Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed himself governor for life of the nascent country.
His regime was dedicated to the attack and massacre of the Creole whites and the mulattoes. The adopted flag kept the colors, but changed them to two horizontal stripes: top blue and bottom red.
Haitian flag. (1804-1805). (Wrestlingring, via Wikimedia Commons).
Dessalines proclaimed himself Emperor of Haiti in 1804, with the name of Jacobo I. In 1805, the new Empire of Haiti established a new flag divided into two vertical stripes of black, representing death and red, symbol of freedom. However, this state was short-lived, as Dessalines was assassinated in 1806.
Flag of the Empire of Haiti. (1805-1806). (Saul ipCode cleanup by Mnmazur, from Wikimedia Commons).
Haiti Division
The assassination of Dessalines in 1806 led to the separation of the independence movement that continued through two states. Henri Cristophe established the State of Haiti in the north, and Alexandre Pétion formed a republic in the south. Both states had different flags.
First Republic of Haiti
Alexandre Pétion established the Republic of Haiti in the south in 1806. This new country once again adopted red and blue as the national colors, with a flag based on that of 1804.
However, the difference was that Pétion added the motto L'union fait la force (The union makes strength) in the national shield in a white square in the central part.
Flag of the Republic of Haiti approved by Pétion (1806). (Wrestlingring, from Wikimedia Commons).
However, the flag of horizontal stripes of blue and red without any additional symbol was one of the most widespread in the territory. The version of the flag with the arms of the country hardly became general in the middle of the century.
State of Haiti and Kingdom of Haiti
Henri Cristophe, in the north, recovered the blue and red flag, but changed the stripes to a vertical orientation. This was the flag of the State of Haiti, which was kept between 1806 and 1811 in the north of the country.
State Flag of Haiti. (1806-1811). (Saul ip, from Wikimedia Commons).
Finally, the State of Haiti became the Kingdom of Haiti in 1811, after the proclamation of Cristophe as monarch. The flag used by that state was a red and black bicolor with the royal coat of arms in the central part.
This consisted of a golden shield with two lions and a yellow blazon on the inside. In addition, it was presided over by a royal crown.
Flag of the Kingdom of Haiti. (1811-1814). (Joins2003, from Wikimedia Commons)
In 1814, the royal coat of arms changed and this was reflected in the country's flag. On this occasion, this shield was blue and presided over by a royal crown. By 1820, the Republican South conquered the North and Haiti was reunited.
Flag of the Kingdom of Haiti. (1814-1820). (Samhanin, from Wikimedia Commons).
Reunification of the island of Hispaniola
In 1820, the Haitian territory was reunited in a single state and with it, its flag. This was done through the incorporation of the north into the Republic of Haiti. Later, in 1821, the eastern Spanish part of the island declared its independence under the name of the Independent State of Spanish Haiti.
This country tried to associate and join the Great Colombia of Simón Bolívar, and adopted a tricolor flag like that of the South American country. However, in 1822 the political situation in Spanish Haiti changed. The eastern part of the island of Hispaniola was invaded by the Republic of Haiti, led by President Jean Pierre Boyer.
At first, the occupation was not badly received by the settlers, who many had the Haitian flag as a symbol of independence.
The occupation lasted until 1844 and it was a cruel exercise of domination, which sought to end the customs and traditions of Spanish Haiti, including language and religion.
Finally, the Dominican Republic achieved its independence after an uprising and an armed conflict with Haiti. The flag used in that period of occupation was the Haitian bicolor, with two horizontal stripes of blue and red. This was kept from the former Republic of Haiti, but without additional symbols.
Flag of the Republic of Haiti. (1822-1843). (Wrestlingring, via Wikimedia Commons).
Boyer's fall
The fall of Jean Pierre Boyer in 1843 generated notable and notorious political instability. During the process of drafting the Constitution of 1843, it was contemplated to change the color of the flag and return to black and red, or even replace red with yellow, to refer to the mulattoes.
This proposition failed. Haitian President Charles Rivière Hérard objected, claiming that the colors of the flag, blue and red, were those established by the independence fathers who conquered nationality. In this way, the flag remained in force until 1949.
Second Empire of Haiti
A new political change would lead Haiti to have a new flag. In 1847, the Haitian Senate elected Faustin Soulouque as president, who was not among the candidates.
Soulouque was black and illiterate, but that didn't stop him from appearing as an authoritarian ruler. In 1949, Soulouque created the Empire of Haiti, and asked parliament to crown him emperor, a fact that took place in 1952.
The Empire of Haiti lasted only for the years of Faustin I's reign, until his overthrow in 1859 by the mulatto general Fabre Geffrard. Precisely, his government repressed the mulattoes and tried to occupy the Dominican Republic again.
The flag of the Empire of Haiti kept the two horizontal stripes of blue and red. However, in the central part a large white square was included on which the monarchical arms were imposed.
These weapons consisted of a blue central barracks with a palm tree and a golden eagle, escorted by two lions with tongues inside a great royal cape presided over by a crown. The royal coat of arms was inspired by European monarchies such as the British.
Flag of the Empire of Haiti. (1849-1859). (Jaume Ollé, via Wikimedia Commons).
Return of the republic
After the fall of the empire, a government of Fabre Geffrard was imposed that recovered the republic. Accordingly, the imperial flag was abolished and the bicolor symbol was recovered.
From this date, the country's coat of arms, once established by Pétion, began to be used definitively on the national flag, within a white field. This remained unchanged until 1964.
Duvalier dictatorship
The Haitian political reality during the 20th century was one of complete instability. The United States occupied the country between 1915 and 1934. Conflicts between blacks and mulattoes remained strong, and in 1957 François Duvalier was elected president.
Nicknamed Papa Doc, Duvalier imposed a regime of terror on the country through death squads and created a cult of personality around his figure.
By 1964, the dictatorial government of Papa Doc drafted a new constitution. This re-adopted the black and red flag, with two vertical stripes.
The difference of this symbol with other previous ones consisted in that the coat of arms of the country did remain in the central part in its white square. Papa Doc died in 1971 and transferred power to his 19-year-old son, who held the dictatorship until 1986.
Haitian flag. (1964-1986). (B1mboCoat of arms: Lokal_Profil and Myriam Thyes, via Wikimedia Commons).
Democracy
In 1986, after a continuous series of protests actively repressed by the government, Jean-Claude Duvalier, son of François Duvalier, resigned and went into exile in France.
With this, the dictatorship was put to an end and a process of transition to democracy began, which ended in 1990 with the election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
On February 7, 1986, the national flag was reinstated with its blue and red colors. The national symbol was ratified in the 1987 constitution, approved in a referendum on March 29 of that year.
Meaning of the flag
The Haitian flag has meanings that correspond to its initial conception and creation. The most recurrent and evident is the unity between mulattoes and blacks, who constitute the two main ethnic groups in the country. The colors, having been adopted from the French tricolor, have no independent meanings.
In addition to identifying itself with national unity, the flag has to its credit the national arms. These are presided over by the oil palm tree accompanied by cannons, drums and other rudimentary weapons.
The palm symbol may represent the island's vegetation and economy, as well as the origins of its population. The motto Unity is strength is in tune with the pavilion's original meaning of unity.
References
- Carty, R. (2005). 7 symbols ou significations du drapeau haïtien. Infohaiti.net. Recovered from infohaiti.net.
- Constitution of the République d'Haïti. (1987). Article 3. Recovered from oas.org.
- Coupeau, S. (2008). The history of Haiti. Greenwood Publishing Group. Recovered from books.google.com.
- Haiti Culture. (sf). Drapeau National d'Haïti. Haiti Culture. Recovered from haiticulture.ch.
- Smith, W. (2018). Flag of Haiti. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Recovered from britannica.com.
- Speaks, M. (May 18, 2018). Connaisez-vous l'histoire du drapeau Haïtien? Nofi. Recovered from nofi.media.