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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen -> 
The Blockade of Saint-Domingue
    2020-03-17  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

James Baquet

We have noted before the effect of European conflicts on the “New World.” The Blockade of Saint-Domingue is one such event.

Napoleon was on the move in 1803, taking advantage of the destruction left in the wake of the French Revolution to build an empire of his own. War between the United Kingdom and the French had repercussions in their colonies all over the world.

One of these was Saint-Domingue, the Caribbean island colony soon to become the nation of Haiti. Since 1791, the people there had risen up against the French to oppose the abhorrent practice of slavery. When news arrived that the French were engaged in a conflict with the British, the Haitians pushed the French forces up into the two northern ports of Cap Francais (now Cap-Haitien) and Mole-Saint-Nicolas.

When the war broke out in May 1803, Britain dispatched a squadron of ships from Jamaica in an effort to prevent communications between the outposts of French troops stationed in the Caribbean and the headquarters in France. Encountering a French convoy off Cap Francais on June 28, the British captured one of two ships. They captured a frigate two days later, and stopped all but two French ships in late July as they attempted to run the blockade. In that engagement, another French ship was trapped against the coast, where a bombardment by Haitian shore artillery ensured its capture.

A supply ship was captured on its way into Cap Francais in early November, and by the end of that month, the French troops were starving. The Haitian commander agreed that the French could evacuate the port, but the British refused their attempts to sail. Eventually, the French at Cap Francois surrendered to the British.

Similar actions took place off of Mole-Saint-Nicolas, harrying any French ship foolhardy enough to traverse the area, and taking control of many of them. Meanwhile, yellow fever was raging through the onshore troops, but the city remained in French hands until the end of the Haitian Revolution in early December.

The new nation of Haiti was declared on Jan. 1, 1804. History lists the Blockade of Saint-Domingue as a “decisive Anglo-Haitian victory.”

Vocabulary:

Which word or phrase above means:

1. effects, result

2. sent

3. clear out, vacate

4. cross (over)

5. a disease spread by mosquitoes

6. group of ships, vehicles, etc.

7. station where troops are found away from the center of thing

8. hateful

9. following

10. the Americas

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