Saint-Domingue : un paradis perdu ?

The apparent decay into which Haiti had fallen since its independence was used by French anti-abolitionists as a proof of the alleged inability of Black people to rule over the prosperous Haitian land. However, was the island as prosperous as they affirmed during French colonization? Based on the testimonies of the members of the Leclerc expedition, this article attempts to answer this question by focusing on their description of the state of the colony at the time of their arrival on the island.