Henri Christophe

Names
	Henry Christophe

Henry I
Henry I
Defender of the Faith
	Portrait by Richard Evans, c. 1816
King of Haiti
Reign	28 March 1811 – ; 8 October 1820
Coronation	2 June 1811
Predecessor	Himself; (as President of the State of Haiti)
Successor	Henry II (unproclaimed)
President of the State of Haiti
In office	17 February 1807 – ; 28 March 1811
Predecessor	Jacques I (as Emperor of Haïti)
Successor	Himself (as King of Haiti)
Born	6 October 1767; Grenada
Died	8 October 1820 (aged 53); Cap-Henri, Kingdom of Haiti
Burial	Citadelle Laferriere, Haiti
Consort	Marie-Louise Coidavid
Issue	François-Ferdinand Christophe; Princess Françoise-Améthyste; Princess Anne-Athénaïre; Jacques-Victor Henry, Prince Royal; Baron Thomas de Belliard (illegitimate son)
Names
Names
	Henry Christophe
Father	Christophe
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Coat of arms

Henri Christophe^[1] (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi kʁistɔf]; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti.

Christophe was of Bambara ethnicity in West Africa.^[2] Beginning with the slave uprising of 1791, he rose to power in the ranks of the Haitian revolutionary military. The revolution succeeded in gaining independence from France in 1804. In 1805 he took part under Jean-Jacques Dessalines in the capture of Santo Domingo (now Dominican Republic), against French forces who acquired the colony from Spain in the Treaty of Basel.

After Dessalines was assassinated, Christophe retreated to the Plaine-du-Nord and created a separate government. On 17 February 1807, he was elected president of the State of Haiti, as he named that area. Alexandre Pétion was elected president in the south. On 26 March 1811, Christophe created a kingdom in the north and was later proclaimed Henry I, King of Haïti. He also created a nobility and named his legitimate son Jacques-Victor Henry as prince and heir.

He is known for constructing Citadel Henry, now known as Citadelle Laferrière, the Sans-Souci Palace, the royal chapel of Milot, and numerous other palaces.^[3] Under his policies of corvée, or forced labor bordering on slavery,^[4] the Kingdom earned revenues from agricultural production, primarily sugar; but the Haitian people resented the system. He reached an agreement with the United Kingdom to respect its Caribbean colonies in exchange for their warnings to his government of any French naval activity threatening Haiti. In 1820, unpopular, ill and fearing a coup, he died by suicide. Jacques-Victor, his son and heir, was assassinated 10 days later. Afterwards, General Jean-Pierre Boyer came to power and reunited the two parts of Haiti.

^ Henry Christophe spelled his first name with a 'y,' and official court documents followed the same convention, as is evidence notably in the Almanach Royal d'Hayti. This is not, as is often assumed, the English spelling, but rather a traditional spelling notably adopted by eponymous French kings. See for example the signature of King Henry IV of France.
^ Mollien, Gaspard Théodore, Comte de (2006). Haïti ou Saint-Domingue, Vol 2. Paris: L'Harmattan. p. 63.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Gauvin Alexander Bailey, The Palace of Sans-Souci in Milot, Haiti (c. 1806–1813): The Untold Story of the Potsdam of the Rainforest (Munich and Berlin, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2017)[1]
^ "Henri Christophe, King of Haiti". King's College London Archives & Special Collections. King's College London. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.

[1] Henry Christophe spelled his first name with a 'y,' and official court documents followed the same convention, as is evidence notably in the Almanach Royal d'Hayti. This is not, as is often assumed, the English spelling, but rather a traditional spelling notably adopted by eponymous French kings. See for example the signature of King Henry IV of France.

[2] Mollien, Gaspard Théodore, Comte de (2006). Haïti ou Saint-Domingue, Vol 2. Paris: L'Harmattan. p. 63.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[3] Gauvin Alexander Bailey, The Palace of Sans-Souci in Milot, Haiti (c. 1806–1813): The Untold Story of the Potsdam of the Rainforest (Munich and Berlin, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2017)[1]

[4] "Henri Christophe, King of Haiti". King's College London Archives & Special Collections. King's College London. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.

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