Part 11/17:
Following the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, France gained control of the western part of Hispaniola, renaming it Saint-Domingue. Under French rule, the colony became one of the richest in the Caribbean, driven by sugar plantations worked by enslaved Africans. The brutal system of slavery created a highly stratified society, with wealthy white planters at the top, marginalized mixed-race populations (mulâtres), and enslaved Africans forming the overwhelming majority.