Page "Hispaniola" Paragraph 15

European colonists often died young due to tropical fevers, as well as racial conflicts in the late eighteenth century.

Thinking to regain control on the island that had produced so much wealth, Napoleon sent more than 20, 000 troops beginning in 1802 to quell the slave revolt in Saint-Domingue, which quickly escalated into war for independence.

Thousands succumbed to a yellow fever during the summer months and more than half of the French army died because of disease.

After the French removed the surviving 7, 000 troops in late 1803, the leaders of the revolution declared the new nation of independent Haiti in early 1804.