Q 01/05

Which vast territory did Napoleon sell to the United States after losing his army in Saint-Domingue?

A) Louisiana

B) Florida

C) Quebec

D) California

Answer · why

A) Louisiana

Louisiana had little value to Napoleon without the revenues of his Caribbean sugar colony, so he abandoned his plans for an American empire.

Q 02/05

Which nation's soldiers, sent by Napoleon to Saint-Domingue, switched sides and became Haitian citizens?

A) Ireland

B) Portugal

C) Poland

D) Sweden

Answer · why

C) Poland

Poland's legionnaires had joined Napoleon hoping to free their own homeland, and Dessalines spared those who sided with the rebels; their descendants ...

Q 03/05

Which liberator did Haitian president Alexandre Pétion arm in return for a promise to free the enslaved?

A) José de San Martín

B) Simón Bolívar

C) Bernardo O'Higgins

D) Antonio José de Sucre

Answer · why

B) Simón Bolívar

Simón Bolívar arrived in Haiti as a defeated exile and left with money and military supplies, then declared the emancipation of all slaves on reaching...

Q 04/05

Which disease ravaged the French army in Saint-Domingue in 1802 and killed its commanding general?

A) Typhoid fever

B) Cholera

C) Bubonic plague

D) Yellow fever

Answer · why

D) Yellow fever

Yellow fever killed more than half of the soldiers Napoleon sent, and their commander died of it in November 1802, nine months after landing.

Q 05/05

Which dish, once forbidden to the enslaved, do Haitians eat every Independence Day?

A) Fried plantains

B) Rice and beans

C) Pumpkin soup

D) Salt cod fritters

Answer · why

C) Pumpkin soup

Pumpkin soup, called soup joumou in Creole, was by tradition cooked by enslaved people for their masters' tables, so eating it freely became a mark of...