1791-Aug.-22: The Great Rebellion began on the rich northern plain of Saint-Domingue as approximately 100,000 enslaved people rose in a coordinated and well-…

1791-Aug.-22: The Great Rebellion began on the rich northern plain of Saint-Domingue as approximately 100,000 enslaved people rose in a coordinated and well-planned strike. Insurgents set fire to 180 sugar plantations and hundreds of coffee and cotton estates, catching the white population entirely defenseless. Black leaders had spent weeks spreading word of the intended uprising, demonstrating a high level of clandestine military coordination. Within two months, French officials estimated that over 2,000 whites had been killed as the insurrection transformed the most profitable colony in the world into a war zone. This event marked the most violent and successful blow ever struck by the enslaved against the Atlantic plantation system.