What is the setting of The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier?

The novel is set on the island where Haiti is now, beginning in the French colonial period approximately 1750, and ending in the early 1800s, after the death of King Henri Christophe. The setting is chosen to track, over the course of one man's lifetime, a continuing cycle of enslavement and forced labor. The time and location also gives the author scope to explore the deep cultural divides between people, particularly the European colonists and the displaced African slaves.