Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In 1802, Napoleon dispatched a Polish legion of around 5,200 men to join the French forces in Saint-Domingue to suppress the Haitian slave rebellion.The Poles may have been hoping to receive French support in restoring Poland's independence from its occupiers—Prussia (later Germany), Russia, and Austria—which divided the country in the late 18th century. [4]
First head of state of Haiti Jean-Jacques Dessalines called the Poles the white Negroes of Europe, [1] [2] in an expression of respect and empathy for the situation of the Poles. The 1805 Haitian constitution granted the Poles Haitian citizenship. [3] A Polish community lives in Haiti to this day with their main center in Casale.
Haiti's new elite class styled itself after Creole customs, and it identified itself as the successor of the Saint-Domingue, promoting Creole arts and culture while emphasizing Saint-Domingue's historical role of being the center of French Creole civilization in the Americas. Haitian aristocrats Madame Leger and Louise Bourke, 1904
People born to foreigners on Haitian soil are not automatically Haitian citizens due to the jus sanguinis (from Latin 'right of blood') principle of nationality law. [26] In addition to those of French descent, other White Haitians are of German, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Lebanese, Syrian, English, Dutch, Irish and American descent.
However, in 1915 the United States invaded Haiti and kept occupation until 1934. During this time, interest in Haitian nationality broadened to embrace the rural majority's "black" culture. A Haitian historical society was founded in 1924, with a focus on their history through the "Black Slave Rebellion" narrative of the Haitian Revolution. [62]
There are roughly 20,000,000 people of Polish ancestry living outside Poland, making the Polish diaspora one of the largest in the world [1] and one of the most widely dispersed. Reasons for displacement include border shifts, forced expulsions, resettlement by voluntary and forced exile, and political or economic emigration .
Polish–French relations are relations between the nations of Poland and France, which date back several centuries.. Despite a number of cultural similarities, such as being prominent old medieval European kingdoms, belonging to Western civilization and sharing a common Roman Catholic religion, relations between France and Poland have only become relevant since the Renaissance era.
The culture of Haiti is a creolized blend of African, European and Taino elements due to the French colonization of Amerindian land (which was then renamed Saint-Domingue), in conjunction with the large diverse enslaved African population who had later freed themselves by a successful revolt.