Dominican Creoles

Saint Dominicans (Saint-Domingais), or simply Dominicans (Domingais), also known as Saint Dominguans, or Dominguans, are the people who lived in the French colony of Saint-Domingue before the Haitian Revolution. Dominican Creoles formed an ethnic group native to Saint-Domingue, they were all of the people who were born in Saint Domingue. The Creoles were well educated, and they created much art, such as the famed St. Dominican French Opera; their society prized manners, good breeding, tradition, and honor. During and after the Haitian Revolution, many St. Dominicans fled to locations in the United States, other Antilles islands, New York City, Cuba, France, Jamaica, and especially New Orleans in Louisiana, where they made an enormous impact on Louisiana Creole culture. French adventurers settled on Tortuga Island, which was close to the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo. As a result, in the late 17th century, the French had de facto control of the island close to the Spanish colony. The wars of Louis XIV of France in Europe finally convinced the Spaniards to give the western quarter of the island to the French under to the Treaty on Ryswick (1697). The French called their new colony Saint-Domingue. As the colony developed, a planter class emerged that created highly profitable plantations- these plantations generated so much wealth that Saint-Domingue soon became the richest colony in the world. In the late 17th century, French colonists made up more than 90% of the population in Saint-Domingue. However, as demand for sugar in Europe grew, planters imported African slaves to meet the demand. The population of Africans grew quickly, and many French settlers intermarried with Africans, resulting in the growth of a multiracial Creole population. By the early 18th century, Dominican Creoles and Africans came to compose the majority of the colony. Throughout the 17th century, French Creoles became established in the Americas as a unique ethnicity originating from the mix of French, Indian, and African cultures.