One of the more interesting aspects of the birth of Haiti is that, given the country literally arose from slavery, the names of many places were changed in order to 'erase' the mark of the French. Cap Francais (originally called Cabo Santo by Columbus and then Gu?rico by the Spanish, this last one was due to that region being the kingdom of the Taino cacique Guacanagarix, hence Gu?rico for short) became Cap Haitien and many other places got their names changed. The case of Port-au-Prince is quite interesting because the French called the place Port-au-Prince and then they changed the name to Port Republicaine. To "symbolize" the end of French rule, Dessalines et al changed the name to the original one which, unbeknownst to him and his aids, was the original French name of the town.
And there are those places that still have their original French names such as Jeremie, Jacmel (the Spanish named this town Y?quimo in honor of the Tainos that lived there and the French simply "Frenchified" -if that's even a word- the original Spanish name.) The towns Haiti took from the DR also had their original names "Frenchified" such as Hincha became Hinche, San Miguel became Saint-Michel, and San Rafael became Saint-Raphael; other towns conserved their original Spanish names such as Las Caobas which became Lascahobas.
But, here is the part that I'm not fully understanding yet (could simply be negligence on the part of the Haitian authorities), as I looked at a map of Haiti a name near the town of Gonaives (northwestern Haiti.) Earlier this year I read Dr. Michel-Etienne Descourtilz's account of the Haitian insurrection, especially the struggle that existed between Dessaline's army and French General Leclerc's expedition including the seige that took place at Crete-a-Pierrot. He was a medical doctor and for that reason his life was spared by Dessalines, but he was forced to go along with Dessalines army and treat their wounds while suffering all sorts of mistreatment. He even attended Dessalines at one moment only to have Dessalines promise to kill him simpy for being white, which is quite a way to thank the person that saves your life. LOL He also wrote about the blacks and mixed-race Haitians that were disgusted with Dessalines's brutality and often put their own lives on the line to give assistance to Dessalines's captives, but many were killed by Dessalines's himself once they were discovered doing that.
Anyway, he was also related by marriage to the Desdune family, which was the largest and richest cotton producing family. Their cotton was considered the best of the island and was highly esteemed in Europe due to its very high quality. Their cotton plantation was southeast of the town of Gonaives and that region became known by their family name, in other words Desdunes.
Descourtilz claims that the entire Desdunes family was tortured to death because he saw many of his family-in-law captured and essentially killed as he also often, according to his account, stumbled upon the butchered corpses of many people he personally knew and whose remains were scattered in the towns along with all the other people that were massacred. But my own further research points that some of the Desdunes family members managed to escape, perhaps these were illegitimate mixed-race people fathered by one of the Desdunes men. Don't know.
Anyway, I was surprised to find that not only there is still a place in Haiti named Desdunes, that its the very same place where the Desdunes family had their cotton plantation southeast of Gonaives.
I also found this video:
[video=youtube;BSH-kXHdm_8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSH-kXHdm_8[/video]
Also its clearly visible on any map of Haiti such as this one:
Does anyone knows why was the name of this town left alone, despite that its related to a slave owning family and considering everything that was done during Haiti's independence to erase the evidence of the slave owners? What other places have not had their names changed, despite the history behind whom they remember?
And there are those places that still have their original French names such as Jeremie, Jacmel (the Spanish named this town Y?quimo in honor of the Tainos that lived there and the French simply "Frenchified" -if that's even a word- the original Spanish name.) The towns Haiti took from the DR also had their original names "Frenchified" such as Hincha became Hinche, San Miguel became Saint-Michel, and San Rafael became Saint-Raphael; other towns conserved their original Spanish names such as Las Caobas which became Lascahobas.
But, here is the part that I'm not fully understanding yet (could simply be negligence on the part of the Haitian authorities), as I looked at a map of Haiti a name near the town of Gonaives (northwestern Haiti.) Earlier this year I read Dr. Michel-Etienne Descourtilz's account of the Haitian insurrection, especially the struggle that existed between Dessaline's army and French General Leclerc's expedition including the seige that took place at Crete-a-Pierrot. He was a medical doctor and for that reason his life was spared by Dessalines, but he was forced to go along with Dessalines army and treat their wounds while suffering all sorts of mistreatment. He even attended Dessalines at one moment only to have Dessalines promise to kill him simpy for being white, which is quite a way to thank the person that saves your life. LOL He also wrote about the blacks and mixed-race Haitians that were disgusted with Dessalines's brutality and often put their own lives on the line to give assistance to Dessalines's captives, but many were killed by Dessalines's himself once they were discovered doing that.
Anyway, he was also related by marriage to the Desdune family, which was the largest and richest cotton producing family. Their cotton was considered the best of the island and was highly esteemed in Europe due to its very high quality. Their cotton plantation was southeast of the town of Gonaives and that region became known by their family name, in other words Desdunes.
Descourtilz claims that the entire Desdunes family was tortured to death because he saw many of his family-in-law captured and essentially killed as he also often, according to his account, stumbled upon the butchered corpses of many people he personally knew and whose remains were scattered in the towns along with all the other people that were massacred. But my own further research points that some of the Desdunes family members managed to escape, perhaps these were illegitimate mixed-race people fathered by one of the Desdunes men. Don't know.
Anyway, I was surprised to find that not only there is still a place in Haiti named Desdunes, that its the very same place where the Desdunes family had their cotton plantation southeast of Gonaives.
I also found this video:
[video=youtube;BSH-kXHdm_8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSH-kXHdm_8[/video]
Also its clearly visible on any map of Haiti such as this one:
Does anyone knows why was the name of this town left alone, despite that its related to a slave owning family and considering everything that was done during Haiti's independence to erase the evidence of the slave owners? What other places have not had their names changed, despite the history behind whom they remember?
