1721 Aug 5 (Royal Edict): The birth of maréchaussée: a specialized police against the mawon, is established in Saint-Doming

1721 Aug 5 (Royal Edict): The birth of maréchaussée: a specialized police against the mawon, is established in Saint-Domingue. This force was created to hunt down people who had escaped and prevent the risk of a “general revolt.” Significance: The establishment of the maréchaussée in Saint-Domingue (Ghachem, 65). Nuance: This was the first professionalized, state-funded “slave patrol” in the colony. Unlike the militia, which was made up of enslavers, the maréchaussée increasingly relied on free people of color (gens de couleur) to hunt down Black maroons. This was a deliberate “divide and rule” strategy by the French to pit different segments of the non-white population against each other.