Treaty of Ryswick

In the Treaty of Ryswick (French: Traité de Ryswick; German: Der Rijswiker Friede or Der Friede von Rijswijk; also Treaty of Rijswijk; Kreyòl: Trete Ryswik, named after the town in the western Netherlands were negotiations took place) in 1697 it was (signed on September 20, 1697). In the part of the treaty relevant to the French interests in the Greater Antilles, Spain recognized the French control of the western one-third of Hispaniola; then Saint-Domingue, now the Republic of Haiti.

The negotiations
The talks took place between the countries of the Grand Alliance (Comprised of England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces (The Netherlands)) on one side, and France on the other. The two sides had been involved in a war against each other (the War of the League of Augsburg). During the negotiations, which lasted severaL months, the French delegation stayed in The Hague and their counterparts in the city of Delft. Ryswick, where the negotiations were carried out, is situated in between.

Important outcome for Saint-Domingue
After the Treaty of Ryswick, French colonialists in what is now Haiti, could grow with significantly less warfare and interruptions that had been common in the years prior. This set the stage for rapidly expanding slavery and for Saint-Domingue to become one of the richest and most productive european colonies.

The treaty was finally ratified by the Treaty of Aranjuez on June 3, 1777 and the Treaty of Basel on July 22, 1795, leaving the western one-third of Hispaniola, Saint-Domingue a French colony and the eastern two-thirds, the current Dominican Republic to Spain.

The Holy Roman Empire was known from the 16th century also as The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.