Haiti became the world's first independent nation to abolish slavery in 1804.
Haiti declared independence from France on 1 January 1804 after the Haitian Revolution, a successful uprising by enslaved and formerly enslaved people in the French colony of Saint-Domingue. The revolution began in 1791 and involved leaders including Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Dessalines proclaimed the new state and restored the Indigenous Taíno-derived name Haiti.
France had abolished slavery in its colonies in 1794, but Napoleon Bonaparte attempted to restore it in 1802. Haitian forces defeated the French expedition, and independence made Haiti the first modern state created by a successful slave revolution and the first independent country in Latin America and the Caribbean to permanently abolish slavery. Haiti's independence was internationally isolated for years, and France later demanded an indemnity, creating a long-term financial burden.