#16: Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803)
Toussaint Louverture was born enslaved in Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, and rose to become a key military leader during the late 18th-century uprising against French colonial rule. He led campaigns that weakened colonial control and helped end slavery in the colony. In 1802, he was arrested by French forces and taken to France, where he died in captivity in 1803. Haiti later declared independence in 1804, and he is widely seen as a central figure in that process.
