This project will aim to reinforce the international dimension of the applicant's career and give him the opportunity to be professionally trained in the United States as an Environmental Historian. He will acquire new knowledge and research methods and will return to the EU well-equipped to teach and publish in this relatively new field of study, still under-represented in Europe. The project will fill in a void in scholarly research by producing the first Environmental History of Haiti since 1492. The monograph will attempt to explain why Haiti is now one of the most environmentally degraded and poorest countries in the world, whilst it was in the 18th century a luxuriant island and the leading exporter of sugar in America. Existing academic works on Haiti are mostly centred on one particular aspect of the history of the country, are circumscribed in time and almost always neglect the environment when attempting to explain the nation's tortured past. This project's working hypothesis is that environmental factors have played a much more significant role than is currently recognized. For example, the pattern of population and colonisation of the island, which has played such a significant role in the country’s history, was severely constrained not only by the slave-based plantation economy, but also by the work of humble mosquitoes, vectors of yellow fever and malaria. Environmental degradation today (deforestation, soil erosion…) also plays a crucial role in the chronic instability of the country. The project will be carried out in Washington D.C. and Paris under the guidance of two leading scholars in the field, John McNeill (Georgetown University) and Genevieve Massard-Guilbaud (EHESS). The applicant will take advantage of the rich resources available for his research both in Washington (Library of Congress, National Archives) and in Paris (Archives and Bibliothèque Nationales), and will also benefit from the intellectual stimulus in both host institutions.