Dear magnificent readers:
Today, we will explore the sugar plantation model of the French Saint-Domingue territory. This part of the Island of Hispaniola was transformed into Haiti.

The sugar plantations of French Saint-Domingue were an economic effort of the Bourbon Kings of France to replicate the British and Portuguese model in their quest to become the most efficient existing sugar Atlantic colony. However, the French Bourbons were the last empire to enter the Atlantic competitive arena. It took them more than 200 years to find a roadmap in their productivity quest to establish their American territories. While the Spanish Habsburg Empire was consolidating its huge continent, the British Stewarts were establishing their 13 colonies and fighting for every inch of their British Atlantic islands. We will expand the study and analysis of French Sugar plantations of Saint Domingue in two episodes. Today is only about the context. Our next episode is about the French Sugar Business in the 18th century, and we will review the case of Toussaint Louverture and the Breda Plantations situation then. The Saint Domingue slave rebellion that began in 1791, which led to the independence of Haiti in 1804, is directly linked to the French Revolution. It was part of it, as much as the transfer of the French territories to the USA. After King Louis XVI Bourbon-Leszczyńska/Wettin Habsburg and his family were captured in Paris, the French Bourbons were under attack on every front of their territories, and the Saint-Domingue sugar slave system was dismantled.

As mentioned previously, this episode is about explaining the context of the birth of Saint-Domingue as a French Colony. We have prepared the following agenda:

1. The monarchical strategy of the Bourbon Kings in Saint Domingue
2. The Treaty of Rijswijk (1697)
3. The French West Indies during the 17th century
4. The Main French Chartered Companies
5. The Circuits of Trade and Ports
6. The Slave Trade carried by the French Empire between 1626 and 1850

The following material is your preparation for the strategic reflections each Monday. Proceed to read it by downloading it in PDF (for a better view). We encourage our students to find additional information related to our themes by searching our recommended bibliography. Feel free to pass this material to your friends, colleagues, family, and professors. It is an honor to learn together.

We kindly ask that you return next Monday, February 16th, 2026, to review our extra strategic reflections on this chapter.
We encourage our readers to familiarize themselves with our Friday master class by reviewing the slides over the weekend. We expect you to create ideas that are or are not strategic reflections. Every Monday, we upload our strategic inferences below. These will be discussed in the next paragraph. Only then will you be able to compare your own reflections with our introspection.

Additional strategic reflections on this episode. These will be in the section below on Monday, February 16th, 2026.

Closing words.
This is the first of two episodes about the sugar plantations of French Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). We have dedicated this chapter to explaining the context of how the monarchical strategy of the Bourbon Kings from France was fitted into the context of creating wealth from the slave model of sugar production. Our goal has been to show you the roots of the French trade slave, and how the royal chartered commercial companies were part of the Imperial France value proposition of the 17th and 18th centuries. An interesting thing that has captured our attention is that during the 16th century, the French Bourbon dynasty was related (by blood) to the Stewart English monarchy. The marriage of King William III Orange-Nassau/Stuart-Bourbon, with his first cousin Mary I Stuart Bourbon/ Hyde-Aylesbury, is the institutional recognition of this alliance. If England-France-The Netherlands were a big family, why did the War of the Grand Alliance (called the Nine Years war) take place? Do you think the answer was the plantations of Saint-Domingue and the riches coming from African slave trade?

Announcement. Next week, we will continue with the last episode of the French Sugar Production Model.

Musical Section.
During our closing bonus season V, we will return to the symphonic, philharmonic, or chamber orchestra compositions. In our quest to show you the work of the Haitian National Orchestral Institute project, we found a lovely initiative. Before the global pandemic, some Musicians of the Utah Symphony traveled to Haiti for a week. It was a teaching-learning experience that we truly wish could continue for the years ahead. Beyond “The desire to be better through music”, the youth of Haiti has the responsibility to reposition its country as a phoenix bird, to rebuild it with excellence, solidarity and love, for the new generations to come. The meaning of the phoenix is rebirth, transformation, immortality, and renewal. Spiritually, it represents the idea of rising from the ashes after suffering. Enjoy!

Thank you for reading http://www.eleonoraescalantestrategy.com. It is a privilege to learn. Blessings.

Sources of reference and Bibliography utilized today. All are listed in the slide document. Additional material will be added when we upload the strategic reflections.

Disclaimer: Eleonora Escalante paints Illustrations in Watercolor. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY. All are used as Illustrative and non-commercial images. Utilized only informatively for the public good. Nevertheless, most of this blog’s pictures, images, and videos are not mine. Unless otherwise stated, I do not own any lovely photos or images.