Early Beginnings: The First Successful Slave Revolt and a Free Nation
When armed rebels launched an uprising Feb. 5, 2004, in the northwestern city of Gonaives that ultimately led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, their chosen site had historical significance. It was in that same western port city where Haiti's ex-slaves declared independence from France 200 years ago.

On Jan. 1, 1804, Haiti became the first black republic when it won the world's only successful slave revolt. Since then, freedom has proved elusive as Haitians suffered under a series of dictators interspersed with more than 30 military coups.

Among the richest colonies of the 18th century French empire, Haiti, then called St. Domingue, depended on slaves imported from western Africa to work sugar and coffee plantations. France and Spain -- both fighting for dominance in the New World -- agreed in 1697 to divide the Caribbean island of Hispanola into St. Domingue and the Spanish-controlled Santo Domingo, or present-day Dominican Republic.

Across the Atlantic, however, the egalitarian principles of the 1789 French Revolution threatened to tear apart the empire. News of the democratic revolution inspired slaves in Haiti to rebel en masse against the French white colonialists in 1791. The slaves quickly seized control of plantations, but the rebellion was soon quashed by French, Spanish and British troops, all fearing the Haitian revolt could spark a wave of massive slave uprisings throughout the New World colonies.

Despite the initial setback, the enslaved Africans -- galvanized by the leadership of Jamaican voodoo priest Boukman Dutty, and military generals François-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe -- waged a 13-year fight for independence against the despised white slave owners. Toussaint, the grandson of an African chief, announced the abolition of slavery in 1801.

The last battle occurred in 1802 when French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, driven by his ambitions to control the western hemisphere, dispatched an army led by his brother-in-law, Gen. Charles LeClerc, to arrest Toussaint and subdue the revolt. The Haitians, however, put up such a strong resistance that the French army eventually withdrew and conceded defeat.

In 1804, Dessalines declared himself emperor, in the tradition of Emperor Napoleon; he and other military leaders created a constitution, which officially renamed St. Domingo as "Hayti," and recognized the equality of all citizens, regardless of skin color. Two years later, Dessalines was assassinated and the country split into a black-controlled north and a mulatto-ruled south.

France, meanwhile, refused to recognize the sovereignty of its former colony until Haiti agreed to pay 90 million gold francs in restitution in 1838. The United States, fearing the black-governed Caribbean nation could undermine the U.S. slave system, did not recognize Haiti's independence until 1862 during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln.

The 19th Century: Power Struggles
Throughout the 19th century, the fledgling republic struggled under a series of tyrannical and ineffectual leaders, as the light-skinned mulatto elite jockeyed for power.

"Of the 22 heads of state between 1843 and 1915, only one served out his prescribed term of office, three died while serving, one was blown up with his palace, one presumably poisoned, one hacked to pieces by a mob, one resigned. The other 14 were deposed by revolution after incumbencies ranging in length from three months to 12 years," James Leyburn, the late historian at Washington and Lee University, summarized in his 1966 book, "The Haitian People."

These early leaders accomplished very little, but initiated a dangerous tradition of ignoring the Haitian constitution, preferring to rule by decree and violence, according to Webster University professor Bob Corbett. A cornerstone to maintain power was the use of private militias to intimidate political opponents, Corbett notes.

Haiti's escalating political and economic disorder drew the attention of foreign governments, particularly Germany and the United States, two countries with the greatest investments in Haiti.

After an angry mob tore apart the sitting president Gen. Vilbrun Guillaume Sam in Port-au-Prince, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1915 deployed soldiers and Marines to protect American and foreign economic interests.

For the next 19 years, the United States essentially governed Haiti, installing figureheads into the presidency amenable to U.S. policies. Though political structures languished under the U.S. occupation, the United States established Haiti's first professional military force, the Garde d'Haiti. U.S. military forces withdrew from Haiti in 1934 after a formal power transfer to the Haitian military, the country's most cohesive and effective institution.

When the country's civil government failed to assert control over national strikes and increasingly chaotic protests, leaders in the new Haitian army seized power in 1946. A three-member military junta, led by Gen. Paul Magloire, briefly governed and held the country's first direct presidential election. The new civilian president, Dumarsais Estime -- initially favored by the upper class -- alienated members of the military and the wealthy class after proposing that Voodoo be considered a religion on the same status as Roman Catholicism, fostering labor unions and enacting an income tax.

Four years later, Magloire, backed by the army and the wealthy, seized power and ruled the country until 1956, marking a time of unusual peace and prosperity.

But, Magloire's increasing corruption, political repression, as well as the devastating destruction of Hurricane Hazel in 1954, brought an end to the period modernization and paved the way for the brutal dictatorship of the Duvalier family.

The Duvalier Regime
Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, then perceived as a mild-mannered country doctor, won the presidency in an election rigged by the Haitian army in 1957. To the surprise of the elite and army, Duvalier quickly consolidated his government, filled positions with loyal associates, rewrote the constitution and declared himself president for life in 1964.

Following a failed coup attempt, Duvalier became increasingly distrustful of the military and formed several personal militia groups to maintain his power. In the tradition of other strong-arm dictators before him, Duvalier created his own rural militia, formally called the Volunteers for National Security -- later known as the Ton Ton Macoutes -- to intimidate or murder his perceived political opponents. Along with the Macoutes, named after a mythological bogeyman, Duvalier formed the "Palace Guard," who represented his personal power base within the military. These private militias enabled Duvalier to entrench his authority by terrorizing the public; an estimated 30,000 Haitians were killed for political reasons during his 14-year rule, according to the U.S. Library of Congress.

Corruption and financial embezzlement also characterized Duvalier's rule, as the leader funneled money to his personal armies and to pay off Haitian elites for their political support. In 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy suspended U.S. funding to Haiti over charges that Duvalier had misappropriated the aid.

Nevertheless, Duvalier enjoyed some popular support among the nation's black majority for his avowed dislike of the established light-skinned elites and his efforts to foster a dark-skinned middle class.

Before Duvalier died in 1971, he designated his 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, as Haiti's new leader. The Haitian elites largely accepted the non-democratic transfer of power, believing that they would continue to enjoy financial benefits and even regain some of their political clout lost under Duvalier's dictatorship.

Since many world leaders viewed Baby Doc, better known as a flamboyant playboy than a leader, as a less repressive leader than his father, foreign governments gradually resumed aid to Haiti, as did the United States in 1971.

The 1983 creation of a new constitution -- Haiti's 20th since 1801 -- and the February 1984 legislative elections, heavily weighted in favor of Duvalierist candidates, did little to legitimize Duvalier's rule. In the wake of the elections, Haitians, suffering from famines and diseases, grew less and less tolerant of Duvalier's extravagance, corruption and disregard for his nation.
In 1985, a series of protests swept through the country, starting -- once again -- in the city of Gonaives.

Amid the social chaos, the military, led by Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy and Col. Williams Regala, hatched a plot to oust Duvalier from the presidency. Threatened by Namphy and Regala, Duvalier fled the country for France in February 1986. The army appointed Namphy head of the new National Governing Council, responsible for overseeing a two-year transition to democracy.

As part of a revolt -- known in Creole as "operation dechoukaj," or operation uprooting -- the council set to destroy the deeply entrenched Duvalierist government. The council annulled Duvalier's constitution and helped create a new constitution that outlawed Duvalier political groups. Haitians approved the 1987 constitution by popular vote and prepared for national elections, in what appeared to be an auspicious step toward a democracy in Haiti.

The elections, however, came to a halt when armed paramilitary groups, linked to Duvalier's Ton Ton Macoutes and senior army officers, massacred several dozen voters shortly after the polls opened.

Following the aborted 1987 election, Haiti was ruled by a series of provisional governments, characterized by their tumultuous, brutal and repressive rule.

In 1988, political scientist Leslie Manigat became president through army-run elections, but Namphy overthrew Manigat three days later and declared himself president. Several months later, Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril, a former Duvalier aide, overthrew Namphy in what would be the fourth military-dominated government to rule Haiti since the fall of the Duvalier regime. Unlike Namphy, Avril held onto his dictatorship for the next two years by cracking down on the burgeoning democratic movements and terrorizing his political opponents and union members.

Upon pressure from U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Alvin Adams and the international community, Avril finally resigned, allowing for foreign assistance to organize a presidential election.

Nascent Democracy
The country's first democratic elections finally took place on Dec. 16, 1990, following a campaign marred by political violence.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide -- a politically active Roman Catholic priest, well known throughout the country for his support of the poor and opposition to Baby Doc Duvalier's regime -- won 67.5 percent of the popular vote in a presidential election that international observers deemed largely free and fair.

Aristide took office on Feb. 7, 1991, forming a coalition with Prime Minister Rene Preval and promising to improve the quality of government. The international community offered more than $500 million in aid to assist Haiti's transition to democracy.

The prospects for Haiti's nascent democracy, however, collapsed that September when Aristide was overthrown in a violent military coup led by Generals Raoul Cedras and Philippe Biamby, backed by dissident army officials and partly funded by wealthy Haitian business leaders, the NewsHour's Elizabeth Farnsworth reported Dec. 21, 1999.

Aristide began a three-year exile in Venezuela and later the United States, working hard to court international support. Meanwhile, several thousand Haitians were killed under the de facto military dictatorship of Raul Cedras, prompting the international community to levy trade, oil and arms embargoes on the Caribbean nation. Between 1991 and 1994, tens of thousands of Haitians fled the country, many attempting to seek refuge in the United States.

In 1994, after Cedras refused to relinquish power to Aristide, the U.N. Security Council passed Res. 940 authorizing member states to form a multinational force and "to use all necessary means" to facilitate the departure of the military regime and the restoration of Aristide's presidency. On Sept. 19, the multinational force landed in Haiti peacefully and Cedras and his supporters left the country, leading to Aristide's return that October.

Upon returning to power, Aristide in 1995 disbanded the army and created a civilian police force. Aristide's effort to purge the military of those involved in the 1991 coup prompted many military officials to flee to the Dominican Republic, The New York Times reported. Meanwhile, U.S. and U.N. peacekeeping troops remained in Haiti to help safeguard Aristide's presidency and prepare for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

Following elections that international monitors considered technically flawed, Preval, Aristide's first prime minister and a prominent member of his Lavalas Family Party, became president in February 1996.

Latest Rebellion
In 2000, Aristide won the presidential elections that main opposition groups, united as the Democratic Convergence, boycotted in protest over disputed parliamentary elections that his Lavalas Family Party had dominated six months earlier. The Democratic Convergence accused Aristide's supporters of using violence and intimidation to guarantee his victory at the polls.

Electoral observers from the Organization of American States also expressed strong doubts about the validity of the elections. Consequently, international governments, including the United States and other foreign aid donors, suspended at least $500 million in aid.

Despite concerns of rigged elections, on Feb. 7, 2001, Aristide was sworn in as the new Haitian president. That same day, the Democratic Convergence swore in Gerard Gourgue as head of its own provisional government.

Under pressure from the OAS, Aristide agreed to reform the electoral process, but did not seek involvement from any members of the opposition. The Democratic Convergence rejected Aristide's reforms and, in response, the government tried to have Gourgue arrested.

Since then, Haiti's government has been ostracized by most world leaders, and cut off from much-needed financial assistance. The country also gained notoriety as a hub for narcotrafficking and other illicit activities.

With the opposition and Aristide's supporters at an impasse, widespread political violence plagued Haiti. In December 2001, a group of armed men opened fire in the presidential palace and killed five people, an attack which Aristide's Lavalas Party called a coup attempt. Shortly thereafter, the offices and homes of opposition party leaders were ransacked and set on fire, and members of opposition groups and journalists became targets of violence. The opposition groups alleged Aristide's vigilantes, known as "chimeres," named after a fire-breathing monster in Haitian mythology, were responsible for the threats and attacks against their members.

Political tensions reached a boiling point in September 2003 when a former Aristide supporter, Amiot Metayer, leader of a militia in Gonaives called the "Cannibal Army," was murdered. Just before his murder, Metayer, a popular hero in northern Haiti, had escaped from prison, along with several members of a right-wing anti-Aristide gang, known as the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, allied with the Cedras dictatorship.

Metayer's brother, Butteur Metayer, claimed that Aristide's private police killed Amiot Metayer to prevent him from revealing information about the murders of opposition figures. Aristide's government denied the allegations.

By early February, the Cannibal Army renamed itself the Gonaives Resistance Front and began killing Aristide's supporters. On Feb. 5, 2004, the GRF announced it seized control of the entire city of Gonaives; more than a dozen police officers were killed or mutilated.

-- Compiled by Elizabeth Harper for the Online NewsHour