At the end of the eighteenth century, the region of present-day Haiti was colonized by the French who called it the Colony of Sao Domingos. The violence of the French colonial slave system motivated the slaves to rebel against the dominators. Events in France during the years of the French Revolution ended up inspiring a great slave rebellion to begin on Sao Domingos. Slaves sought liberation from the prevailing system of exploitation, and freed blacks struggled to equalize rights with the French.