In the Haitian Revolution, in 1791 the slaves rose up and drove the whites out of Saint-Domingue (the colonial name of Haiti and perhaps the richest colony in the West Indies or the history of the world) in 1803. They declared the independent Republic of Haiti. The revolution was much more complicated than this. There were multiple revolutions going on at this time, built off of the French Revolution (Paris 1789).
Saint-Domingue produced sugar, coffee, cocoa, indigo, tobacco, cotton, sisal, and some fruits and vegetables. This was made possible by fertile soil, an ideal climate, and slave labor. When the French revolution broke out in 1789, there were four main groups of people in Saint-Domingue ad some of these groups were divided into even smaller groups.
The whites were divided into two main groups:
-The Planters were wealthy whites who owned plantations and any slaves. Their wealth relied soley on the slave economy.
-The Petit Blancs were not as wealthy as the planters. They were artisans, shop keepers, merchants, and teachers. They were the middle and under class whites. They had few slaves.
The Free Persons of Color: In1789 there were about 30,000 free persons of color. About half of these slaves were born from white Frenchman and slave women. They were called mulattoes. Their fathers would usually free them out of guilt. Other slaves feared the mulattoes. Because the slave masters sometimes either showed them special attention or none at all. The other half were black slaves who purchased their freedom or were given their freedom for various reasons. The free persons of color were quite wealthy.
The Black Slaves: There were about 500,000 slaves, outnumbering the amount of free people.
-Domestic Slaves
There were about 100,000 domestic slaves. They were coooks and personal servants.
-Field Hands There were about 400,000 of them. They had the harshest lives. They worked from sun up to sun down, in terrible climates. These slaves were barely fed with virtually no medical care. They were not allowed to read or write.
The Maroons These were the large amount of run away slaves. They lived in small villages and kept alive African ways. They would not fight for their rights.
When the slaves started to rebel the slave owners started to fear. They knew that they were outnumbered 10-1. Slave owners had to get tougher. They kept slaves of the same tribes apart. Slaves were not allowed to have any meetings. Slaves continued to fight back in every way possible.
http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/revolution/revolution1.htm
The Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910. It started when a writer and poitician, Francisco I. Madero, challenged the rule of president Porfirio Diaz. When Diaz refused to allow clean elections, Madero called for revolution. Emiliano Zapata answered his call in the south and Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa in the North. Diaz lost rule in 1911. But, the revolution was just beginning. Million rival politicians had died already. Warlords fought eachother over the cities and other regions of Mexico. In 1920, Alvaro Obregon had rose to power. Many historians believed this was the end of the revolution. Even though the violence continued into the 1920's.
Other reliable websites on the Latin America Revolutions:
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