25 Gourde    (sold for $8.0)

1973, Haiti. Proof-like Silver 25 Gourdes "World Soccer Championship"  Coin.

Mint Year: 1973 Mintage: 8,685 pcs. References: KM-103. Denominations: 25 Gourdes Condition: Uneven toning, otherwise a nice proof-like uncirculated! Material: Sterling Silver (.925)  Weight: 10.08gm Diameter: 30mm

Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti,   is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the   island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it   shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti (land of high mountains)   was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island. The   country's highest point is Pic la Selle, at 2,680 metres (8,793 ft). The   total area of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) and its   capital is Port-au-Prince. Haitian Creole and French are the official   languages.

Navigator Christopher Columbus landed at Môle   Saint-Nicolas on 5 December 1492, and claimed the island for Spain.   Nineteen days later, his ship the Santa María ran aground near the present site of Cap-Haïtien. Columbus left 39 men on the island, who founded the settlement of La Navidad.

The sailors carried endemic Eurasian infectious   diseases. The natives lacked immunity to these new diseases, and died in   great numbers in epidemics. The first recorded smallpox outbreak in the   Americas occurred on Hispaniola in 1507. The encomienda system forced natives to work in gold mines and plantations.

The Spanish passed the Laws of Burgos, 1512–1513,   which forbade the maltreatment of natives, endorsed their conversion to   Catholicism, and gave legal framework to encomiendas. The natives were brought to these sites to work in specific plantations or industries.

As a gateway to the Caribbean, Hispaniola became a   haven for pirates during the early colonial period. The western part of   the island was settled by French buccaneers. Among them was Bertrand   d'Ogeron, who succeeded in growing tobacco. He attracted many French   colonial families from Martinique and Guadeloupe.   European nations   were competing for control in the New World, in the   Caribbean as well   as in North America. France and Spain settled their   hostilities on the   island by the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, and divided Hispaniola between   them.

France received the western third and subsequently   named it Saint-Domingue.   To develop it into sugar cane plantations,   they imported thousands of   slaves from Africa. Sugar was a lucrative   commodity crop throughout the   eighteenth century. By 1789,   approximately 40,000 French colonists lived   in Saint-Domingue. In   contrast, by 1763 the French population of Canada, a much larger   territory, had numbered 65,000. The French were vastly outnumbered by   the tens of thousands of African slaves they had imported for decades to   work on their plantations, which were   primarily devoted to the   production of sugar cane. Particularly in the   north, slaves retained   many ties to African cultures, religion and   language, as they were   continually renewed by new imports. they   outnumbered whites by about   ten to one.

The French-enacted Code Noir ("Black Code"),   prepared by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and ratified by Louis XIV,   had   established rules on slave treatment and permissible freedoms.     Saint-Domingue has been described as one of the most brutally efficient     slave colonies; one-third of newly imported Africans died within a few     years. Many slaves died quickly from tropical diseases, smallpox, and   typhoid fever. They had low birthrates, and there is evidence that some   women aborted fetuses rather than give birth to them in slavery.

As in its Louisiana colony, French colonists provided   some rights to free people of color,   the mixed-race descendants of   female slaves (and later mixed-race   women) and white colonists. Over   time, many were given freedom. They   established a separate class.   White French Creole fathers frequently   sent their mixed-race sons to   France for education. Some were admitted   to the military. More of the   free people of color lived in the south of   the island, near   Port-au-Prince,   and many intermarried within their community. They   frequently worked as   artisans and tradesmen, and began to own some   property. Some became   slaveholders. They petitioned the colonial   government to expand their   rights.

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