Iole A. Apicella
TOBACCO
The common name, tobacco, derived from the word applied both to the tube used by the Indians for inhaling the smoke and to the cylinder of leaf prepared for smoking. The Indians believed it possessed medicinal properties and they used it also in ceremonials. The pipe was an emblem of peace and friendship. When some calamity, or joy, or some great need occurred, they smoked the pipe together. The smoking of the pipe had to follow a very precise ritual: the medicine man lighted it first with a coal from the fire and pointed it toward the sky as a gesture to the gods, he then passed it to the man seating on his right who took a long pull at the pipe, puffed out the smoke, and passed to the next person. The circle of the persons smoking symbolized the path of the sun.
In the “Shorte and Briefe Narration” describing Jacques Cartier’s second voyage to America in 1535-36, it can be found the following description about the tobacco and its use among the Indians:
“ There groweth also a certain kind of herbs, whereof in summer the Indians make great provision for all the years, making great account of it, and only cause it to be dried in the sunne, then weare it about their neckes, wrapped in a little beastes skinne made like a little bagge, with a hollow peece of stone or wood like a pipe; then when they please they make pouder of it, and then put it in one of the ends of the said Cornet or pipe, and laying a Cole of fire upon it, at the other end sucke so long, that they fill out their bodies full of smoke till that it cometh out of their mouth and nostrils, even as out of the tonnell of a chimney. They say that this doth keep them warme and in healthe; they never go without smoke of it about them. We ourselves have tryed the same smoke, and having put it in our mouth, it seemed almost as hot as Pepper.”
The extension of the tobacco couture began with its introduction to the courts of the time. France in 1556; Portugal in 1558 followed by Spain in 1559 and finally England in 1565.
It is during the same century that the word Nicotiana was first used in honour of Jean Nicot, French ambassador at Lisbon, Portugal who sent some N. tabacum to the queen of France between 1556 and 1580.
The increased commercial productions of the crops demanded more labourers therefore by the year 1789, on the eve of the French Revolution, the population was divided in the following ratio:
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- 32.000 Frenchmen
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- 24.000 Freedmen of mixed ancestry
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- 50.000 Negro slaves.
As we can imagine the great disparity in number between slaves and landowners was bound to deteriorate for several reasons:
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1) Cruel treatment towards the slaves.
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2) Dissatisfaction of the freedmen on being recognized as equal to the white landowners.
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3) The news of the French Revolution.
Several movements were initiated in Saint Domingue by men who believed that the time for freedom had finally come. The most famous are: Pierre-Dominique Toussaint l’Ouverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe.
Pierre-Dominique Toussaint l’Ouverture
Pierre-Dominique Toussaint l’Ouverture was born in Saint Domingue, where he was a slave. He was freed by his master when he was 35. He believed that the ideals of the French Revolution should be applied and extended to the slaves of the island. On August 14,1791 the slaves launched an insurrection. He was named commandant in chief. On February 4, 1794 France was forced to grant the emancipation of the island ( the independence for the entire island was however reached on October 1804). Napoleon Became very weary of the situation on the island so he ordered that the most famous of the blacks would be secretly deported to France. Pierre-Dominique Toussaint died there, forgotten and ignored by the man who had been the inspiration for the Revolution (additional information on Toussaint l’Ouverture may be found in my previous unit entitled “ Spain and France: Influence in Europe and in the New World - 1990).
Jean-Jacques Dessalines (c. 1748-1806)
Jean-Jacques Dessalines became a general in the French army. While we do not know his original name, we know that he was African and an Ashanti. When he was brought to the island as a slave, he was able to win the trust of his white master and the fellow workers at the Dessalines plantation.
He had the chance of meeting F.D.Toussaint l’Ouverture at an exhibition staged by the authorities during which two mulattos (Oge and Chevannes) were to be broken on the rack because of a new insanity affecting Africans called freedom. Both Africans and mixed blood persons shared the same feelings and the whites felt very uneasy. The two mulattos were put to death and two soldiers paraded the two heads on pikes.
In 1802 Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe and other mulatto generals, fearful that Bonaparte would restore slavery, stepped the war against the French. Arms and supplies provided by American merchants helped to change the situation. In addition yellow fever decimated the French soldiers and an armistice was signed on November 18, 1803.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared the independence of the entire island with the aboriginal name of Haiti in 1804. Dessalines was proclaimed Emperor Jacques I.
The emperor had acquired a reputation for being brave and cruel. For example he had ordered the massacre of the remaining French troops after he had been elected governor general. His idea of reviving agricultural production by reinstating forced labor was not met with favor by his followers.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, regarded as the chief Hero of the Haitian war for Independence was the one who gave back the original name of Haiti to Espanola or Saint Domingue, The illiterate slave of a free negro, Jean-J. Dessalines was finally killed in an ambush at Port au Prince, Martinique, while he was attempting to suppress a revolt among mulattos in the South.
Henri Christophe (1767-1820)
He was born on the island of St. Kitts. When he was 7 years old he was apprenticed to a mason on his master’s estate. He changed masters when he was twelve, when the sailing master of the ship he went on, claimed him as his own. He was at that moment given the name of Christophe. He was sold after a short while to the Coidovic household. He purchased his freedom from slavery and became Toussaint’s Lieutenant and General in chief of the army during the seven years uprising. Realising that Toussaint would be deposed by Napoleon in favor of Leclerc, (Napoleon’s brother in law, Pauline’s husband) he escaped to the mountains.
After the death of Dessalines he became the first President of Haiti in 1807. He was crowned king on June 12, 1812. Under him his country prospered, He built a royal palace that was called the Sans Souci. He was accused of promoting slavery against his own people and of unnecessary cruelty. The people themselves rose up and his own troops abandoned him. He committed suicide and his wife disposed of his body rather than leaving it in the mob’s hands. His family left the country safely and went to England. Presently his wife is buried in Pisa, Italy.
