Toussaint Louverture

François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (or L'Ouverture) was the best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution. He was born as Toussaint Bréda. He first served in the army of the Spanish part of the isle of Saint-Domingue, and fought the French as the leader of a guerrilla unit consisting of 4000 liberated slaves. The Spanish made him a general and he was given the nickname L'Ouverture (the opening), because of the successfull way he exploided gaps in the defense of the enemy. He later adopted this nickname as his surname.
After the abolition of slavery by the French in 1794, he switched sides and fought the Spanish and the British, who tried to take control.

By 1799 he was the de facto leader of the island, and negotiated trade treaties with Britain and the United States. In 1801, he promulgated an autonomist constitution for the colony, with himself as Governor-General for Life. In 1802 he was forced to resign by forces sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to restore French authority in the former colony. He was deported to France, where he died in 1803 of pneumonia. The Haitian Revolution continued under his lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declared independence on January 1, 1804. By then the French had lost two-thirds of the forces sent to the island toyellow fever.