Enslaved Haitians defeated Napoleon's army and founded the world's first Black republic

Starting in 1791, enslaved Haitians rose up against French colonial rule and, over 13 years, defeated French, British and Spanish forces sent to crush them. By 1804 they had founded Haiti as the only nation ever born from a successful slave revolt. Napoleon's failed attempt to retake the colony was a key reason he sold Louisiana to the United States the following year.

— C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution — 1938
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