a former Haitian slave who led the only successful slave revolt in modern history. Standing firmly, he fought to end slavery and gain Haiti's independence from european powers, France and Spain. Forming an army of former slaves and deserters of the French and Spanish armies, he trained his followers in guerrilla warfare and successfully ended slavery in Hispaniola in 1795.
Although he did not live to see it, Toussaint's actions launched a series of global events that changed the geography of the Western Hemisphere and spelled out the beginning of the end for European colonial domination in the Americas. Frustrated by a rebellion he could not control in Hispaniola, Napoleon Bonaparte decided not to expand his empire to North America and sold the territory of Louisiana to the United States in 1803. This paved the way for Western expansion throughout the 19th century. Toussaint's actions also inspired revolutions in several Latin American countries over the next 100 years and American abolitionists to fight for an end to slavery.
