Soulouque, Faustin élie

Related Category: Haiti History: Biographies

(fōstăN´ ālē´ slk´), c.1785–1867, emperor of Haiti (1849–59). An illiterate former slave, he became president in 1847 and then declared himself emperor as Faustin I. His reign was corrupt, sanguinary, and terror-ridden; his court was a caricature of Napoleon's. Although he failed in his attempt to conquer Santo Domingo, he held Haiti under stern control until overthrown by a revolution led by Nicholas Fabre Geffrard.