Pre-revolutionary Saint-Domingue

Saint-Domingue (the French colony that became Haiti) was the wealthiest colony in the world in 1789. It produced 40% of the sugar and 60% of the coffee consumed in Europe. This wealth was extracted by approximately 500,000 enslaved Africans working under brutal conditions on plantations owned by approximately 30,000 free whites. There was also a population of about 30,000 free people of color (gens de couleur libres), many of whom were wealthy and educated but legally inferior to whites.