1-646-661 - Art Media/Heritage Images

Henri Christophe, King of Haiti, 1806. A former slave, Henri Christophe rose to the rank of General in the rebel army during the Haitian Revolution, which secured Haiti's independence from France in 1804. After the assassination of Jean Jacques Dessalines, the first ruler of the newly independent nation, in 1806, the country was divided into two halves, with Henri Christophe ruler of the northern half. In 1811 he declared the north a kingdom, with himself as monarch. The southern potion remained a republic. Fearing a coup, Henri Christophe committed suicide in 1820, after which the two halves of the country were united as a republic.