In 1789, according to official figures, there were roughly 465,000 slaves in the colony, 31,000 whites, and 28,000 free-coloreds. Masters, who were taxed on the basis of the number of slaves they owned, had an interest in underreporting the true numbers, so that it is likely that the slave population was higher, probably near a half-million. (The United States, in contrast, had a total population of 700,000 slaves in 1790.) Furthermore, the towns harbored 26 percent of the colony's whites, who made up only 4 percent of the rural population. A few examples from the northern plain highlight the startling imbalance in the population. In the parish of Limbé there were 300 whites, 200 freecoloreds, and 5,000 slaves, while in the neighboring parish of Acul, where the 1791 insurrection would begin, there were 3,500 slaves and 130 whites.

Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ …, loc. 62