The monarchs of Haiti (, ) were the heads of state and rulers of Haiti on three non-consecutive occasions in the 19th century. With complete independence achieved from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1804, Haiti became an independent monarchy as the

First Empire of Haiti The First Empire of Haiti, officially known as the Empire of Haiti (; ), was an elective monarchy in North America. Haiti was controlled by France before declaring independence on 1 January 1804. The Governor-General of Haiti, Jean-Jacques Des ...

, under the rule of

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution ( or ; ) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known Slave rebellion, slave up ...

leader

Jean-Jacques Dessalines Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Haitian Creole: ''Jan-Jak Desalin''; ; 20 September 1758 – 17 October 1806) was the first Haitian Emperor, leader of the Haitian Revolution, and the first ruler of an independent First Empire of Haiti, Haiti under th ...

as Emperor Jacques I. Under Jacques, Haiti became the first country in the Americas to permanently abolish slavery. However, his ordering the

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

of the remaining French population caused the death or escape of thousands. Implementing enforced plantation labor to boost the Haitian economy, Jacques was assassinated in 1806 by members of his own regime. Jacques' autocratic tendencies would be disdained for decades. Following Jacques' assassination, a power struggle divided the country in two, and by 1807 Haiti was governed by fellow revolutionary leaders

Henri Christophe Henri Christophe (; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti. Born in the British West Indies, British Caribbean, Christophe was possibly of Senegambian descent ...

in the north and

Alexandre Pétion Alexandre Sabès Pétion (; 2 April 1770 – 29 March 1818) was the first president of the Republic of Haiti from 1807 until his death in 1818. One of Haiti's founding fathers, Pétion belonged to the revolutionary quartet that also includes ...

in the south. Christophe instituted "mandatory labour" to defend against the French should they invade again, and to strengthen his authority, he formed the

Kingdom of Haiti The Kingdom of Haiti, or Kingdom of Hayti (; ), was the state established by Henri Christophe on 28 March 1811 when he proclaimed himself King Henri I after having previously ruled as president of the State of Haiti, in the northern part of the ...

in 1811 with himself as King Henri I. Once again, the monarch's pursuit of authoritarian policies decimated their support. Henri's soldiers defected to his southern opponent,

Jean-Pierre Boyer Jean-Pierre Boyer (; 15 February 1776 – 9 July 1850) was one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution, and the president of Haiti from 1818 to 1843. He reunited the north and south of the country into the Republic of Haiti in 1820 and also ann ...

, who reunited Haiti when Henri, betrayed and fearing death, took his life on 8 October 1820. His son and heir, Jacques-Victor Henry, was assassinated ten days later. The final revolutionary veteran to rise to lead Haiti was Faustin-Élie Soulouque, a general in the Haitian Army when he was appointed the country's seventh president in 1847. Soulouque accrued autocratic power, purged the elite from the army, filled administrative positions with loyalists, and created a private army and secret police. Soulouque declared the

Second Empire of Haiti The second (symbol: s) is a unit of Time in physics, time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the Internati ...

in 1849, after his proclamation as Emperor Faustin I, being formally coronated in 1852. Faustin's lack of success in attempting to reconquer the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

sent his support into decline, and a revolution led by General

Fabre Geffrard Guillaume Fabre Nicolas Geffrard (; 19/23 September 1806 – 31 December 1878) was a Mulatto Haitians, mulatto general in the Military of Haiti, Haitian army and President of Haiti from 1859 until his deposition in 1867. On 18 April 1852 ...

compelled Faustin to abdicate in 1859. Geffrard restored the republic as president, and the former emperor was exiled temporarily to Jamaica prior to his return to Haiti, where he died in 1867. The period known as the

Duvalier dynasty The Duvalier family (French language, French: ''Dynastie des Duvalier''; Haitian Creole: ''Dinasti Duvalier'') was an Autocracy, autocratic hereditary dictatorship in Haiti that lasted almost 29 years, from 1957 until 1986, spanning the rule of ...

(1957–1986), was not a period of monarchy but of an

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

(

hereditary dictatorship A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. Historians ...

First Empire of Haiti (1804–1806)

Kingdom of Haiti (1811–1820)

Second Empire of Haiti (1849–1859)

Kingdom of La Gonâve

Timeline

Notes

References

{{Monarchies

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

Monarchs A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority an ...