Mountain ranges divided Saint-Domingue’s provinces, forcing movement by sea

Evidence

Saint-Domingue contained two other provinces—the Western and the Southern. They were separated from the North, and from one another, by high mountain ranges. Only in 1751, when Port-au-Prince—the largest town in the Western Province—became the island’s capital, was a passage cut across these mountains. The royal government paid for the road, but slaves built it, carving a 100-foot stairway into the rock. Not until 1787, however, was it possible to travel from Le Cap to Port-au-Prince by carriage. Each region had its mountains, its plains, and its port towns. For most of the colony’s history, people and goods moved from region to region by sea. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 99

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: This geographic fragmentation directly explains the regional shape of the 1791 uprising the reader is following.

Related

• Saint-Domingue’s regions stayed fragmented because mountains kept them isolated until 1787. (similarity 0.92)
• Geographic fragmentation forced Saint-Domingue’s regions to develop in isolation from one another. (similarity 0.91)
• Slave-built infrastructure connected Saint-Domingue’s regions only late and inadequately. (similarity 0.89)

Broader Connections

• Mountain ranges kept Saint-Domingue’s three provinces isolated from each other #corroborates (0.90)