Primary Sources

Code Noir (1685) (Via Internet Archive)

The Code Noir was a decree issued by France’s King Louis XIV in 1685 which defined the conditions of slavery in the French empire

Michel-Etienne Descourtilz, Flore Pittoresque et Médicale des Antilles (1823) Via Bibliothèque haïtienne des pères du Saint-Esprit (Downloadable pdf by volume)

Jean Baptiste du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles habités par les françois (via Gallica)

Jean Baptiste du Tertre was a French friar and botanist who traveled the the French Caribbean as a missionary from 1640-1658.  His narrative describes Saint-Domingue, particularly the native Caribs.

Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie francaise de l’isle de Saint-Domingue  1797 (Volume 1); (Volume 2) (Via Internet Archive)

Moreau de Saint-Méry’s work describes in great detail life in Saint-Domingue on the eve of the Haitian Revolution.

Maroons of Saint-Domingue: Advertisements from the Affiches américaines (1776-1790)

This website provides full on-line access to runaway slave advertisements from Saint-Domingue’s major colonial newspaper. You can browse through the texts, which can also be searched by keyword.

État détaillé des liquidations opérées à l’époque du I.er janvier 1829, Par la commission chargée de répartir l’Indemnité… (Volume 2) (1829) (via Google Books)

Report addressed to “His Excellency the Minister of Finances” that presents a table of settlements made during the year 1828 by the committee charged with distributing the compensation attributed to former colonists of Saint-Domingue.

Historical Analyses

Dantès Bellegarde, Pages d’histoire (1925) (Via Digital Library of the Caribbean)