African-born slaves outnumbered creoles on the eve of the revolution.

Evidence

On the eve of the revolution, according to Moreau, two-thirds of Saint- Domingue’s slaves—and therefore more than half of the colony’s population—had been born in Africa. The relationship between these Africanborn slaves and the creoles was complex. Creoles had many advantages in facing the daily struggles of slavery. They had grown up speaking creole and had networks of kin in the colony. They generally held more of the specialized and privileged positions on plantations and had a better chance of emancipation. Meanwhile, slaves who had been raised in Africa had their own cultural, political, and military experiences, their own languages and religion. However, sharp distinctions between the groups are misleading: many creoles were only a generation away from Africa, and the African-born who had spent much of their life in the colony became creolized in many ways. Nevertheless, the particular life histories of members of these two groups would shape their participation in the revolution. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 155

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Sets up the creole/African-born divide that later shapes insurgent leadership; connects to the revolution’s internal dynamics.

Related

• More than half of the colony’s population was Africa-born on revolution’s eve (similarity 0.95)
• Saint-Domingue’s slaves were mostly African, making the revolution partly an African revolution (similarity 0.83)
• Most Saint-Domingue slaves were African-born by the late eighteenth century (similarity 0.81)
• Saint-Domingue’s colonists were more creole than French in interests and identity (similarity 0.81)
• The Haitian Revolution was itself largely an African revolution (similarity 0.81)
• Heavy African-born majorities among insurgents saw themselves as experienced soldiers. (similarity 0.80)
• Kongo-born slaves dominated the mountains and produced future revolutionary leaders (similarity 0.79)
• The Caribbean colonies stayed loyal to Britain out of fear of slave revolts. (similarity 0.79)
• The Haitian Revolution uniquely made slaves, not owners, its protagonists (similarity 0.79)
• A majority of Haiti’s revolutionaries were African-born slaves. (similarity 0.78)
• Kongo political traditions contributed revolutionary ideas as much as France did. (similarity 0.78)
• Violence by insurgent slaves was no greater than that of other revolutions (similarity 0.78)
• Saint-Domingue’s workforce became violently racialized within a century (similarity 0.78)
• The African-born majority of Haitian slaves shaped the coming revolution (similarity 0.78)
• Saint-Domingue’s prosperity flowed from defying metropolitan trade regulation (similarity 0.78)