Boukman

Dutty Boukman (Zamba Boukman) was the Vodou priest (Houngan) commonly recognized as the person who started the Haitian Revolution. Although Boukman was not the first to lead a rebellion against slavery in Saint-Domingue, because he was preceded by others such as Padrejean in 1676 and François Makandal in 1757, he is nonetheless believed to have delivered the spark that ignited the Haitian Revolution.

Boukman had come to Saint-Domingue by way of Jamaica, and he became a maroon in the forest of Morne Rouge in the northern part of the island. Prior to his marronage, he had been a commandeur and later a coachman on the Clément plantation, which was among the first to go up in flames once the revolution began. It is said that his ...