Dèyè mòn gen mòn : Géographies de colonisation et de résistance

Abstract

In the indigenous language Taíno, Haiti or Ayiti, means "land of mountains." Haiti is an island two-thirds of which are covered by the mountainous topography of les mornes. Taking this specific geography as a starting point, this interdisciplinary thesis brings together history, French and Haitian Studies in an exploration of the ways that the landscape of Haiti played a crucial role in the history of the country. Starting with pre-colonial history, through the colonization by the Spanish then the French, and after the revolution that led to its independence in 1804, the history of Haiti is also the history of its land, of how it was used, imagined, conquered, domesticated, forgotten. This investigation studies how the landscape, especially the mountainous regions, played a role in both French colonization and in the resistance of enslaved peoples and Maroons leading up to the revolution of 1791. It includes a discussion of the critical role of agriculture in the colonial system that created the most profitable colony in the French empire, exploring the geographies of the colonial empire in juxtaposition with the geographies of resistance. As well as a physical and material analysis, it also discusses symbolic means of controlling the land and the ideologies surrounding the concepts of landscape and geography in terms of cartography, economy, politics, and religion, showing how these representations offer both a form of oppression and a means of subversion.