Saint-Domingue is the French equivalent of the Spanish term Santo Domingo. Spain once controlled the entire island of Hispaniola, which was also known as Santo Domingo. But in the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, Spain recognized that France had established control of the western one-third of its territory.
19th and early 20th century U.S. authors often referred to Saint-Domingue as "St. Domingo," which can lead to confusion with the former Spanish colony which is today the Dominican Republic.
The name was changed to Haiti when the country declared independence from the French in 1804. Like the term Haiti itself, Saint-Domingue may sometimes be used to refer to all of Hispaniola, but sometimes only to the "western part" (partie de l'ouest) now occupied by the Republic of Haiti.
After entering the sugar colony business late, British naval supremacy and control over key islands such as Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados and the territory of British Guiana gave it an important edge over all competitors; while many British did not make gains, some made enormous fortunes, even by upper class standards.
This advantage was reinforced when France lost its most important colony, St.
Dominigue (western Hispaniola, now Haiti), to a slave revolt in 1791 and supported revolts against its rival Britain, after the 1793 French revolution in the name of liberty (but in fact opportunistic selectivity).
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