To offset the declining population of African slaves in Haiti, more and more slaves were imported from Africa in very large numbers; because the remaining ones left in Haiti, could not cope with the quantum and severity of labor required to sustain the rich life style of the colonists and their mulatto offspring. The mulatto population originated from children born to French colonists by African women slaves who were forcefully taken and raped by these Frenchmen. The Frenchmen usually adopted these mulatto children, and in many cases, they became heirs of their white fathers. The African men slaves then faced double jeopardy. They were deprived of the sexual services of their women, and were also subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment by their white masters. It was no wonder then that with forceful conversion of their women into concubines by the French colonists, and the sapping of their energy from severe labor, which rendered them virtually impotent, their population began to dwindle like that of the original inhabitants of Ayiti, the Tainos.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the colonial society of Saint Domingue consisted of three population groups. First were the European colonists, who held both the economic and political power. These were the first class citizens of Ayiti, under French colonial rule. Second were the mulattos, the offspring of Frenchmen and their African women concubines. These had economic power but no political say in the running of the colony. They were second class citizens. The third, and by far the largest group were the Black African slaves. They were large in number, but were not even considered as human beings, not to talk of being grouped into any class of citizenship. With the population of Saint Domingue split into three unequal and mutually antagonistic groups, the stage was then set for what was to follow naturally: a revolt of the underdogs.

Santo Domingo After the splitting of Hispaniola into two colonies in 1697, between Spain and France, the Spanish two thirds of the island retained the name Santo Domingo. The Spaniards continued to run the colony as they had done previously to the splitting. They mined gold and maintained the plantations they had already established. The proceeds were shipped to the home country Spain, to maintain the monarchy as was the practice before the split. All the arduous labor continued to be done by the slaves imported from Africa. It is instructive to know that Santo Domingo did not develop at the same fast rate as its neighbor Saint Domingue.

As a matter of fact, with the discovery of gold in very large quantities in the country of the Incas, Peru, and the territory of the Aztecs, Mexico, Spain virtually neglected development of its colony on Hispaniola Island. From being the colonial administrative headquarters of the new lands in 1493, it became incorporated in 1535 as a unit of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which included Mexico and the Central American Islands. From that point on, Santo Domingo began to suffer neglect at the hands of colonial Spain. After the split, the people of Santo Domingo began to look with envy across the border at their former brethren in Saint Domingue, who were developing at a fast rate, and becoming very wealthy in the process.

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