Jean-Jacques Dessalines was the first Haitian Emperor, and leader of the Haitian Revolution, and the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1805 constitution. Initially regarded as governor-general, Dessalines was later named Emperor of Haiti as Jacques I (1804–1806) by generals of the Haitian Revolutionary army and ruled in that capacity until being assassinated in 1806. He spearheaded the resistance against French massacres upon Haitians, and eventually became the architect of the 1804 Haitian Massacre against the remaining French residents of Haiti, including some supporters of the revolution. Alongside Toussaint Louverture, he has been referred to as one of the fathers of the nation of Haiti.
Portrait of Dessalines, c. 1840–1880
An etching of the coronation of Dessalines as Emperor of Haiti
Dessalines holding a mutilated French woman's head
Dessalines depicted on a 1916 Banque Nationale de la République 1 gourde note (1916)
The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti.
Haiti at the beginning of the Haitian revolution in 1791
Jean-Baptiste Belley, as depicted by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson.
Slave rebellion of 1791
General Toussaint Louverture
