So most of these plantations were pretty large. They often had more than 200 slaves, and many of the field workers, in some cases a majority, were women. The French society in San Domingo was divided into four groups, which had important consequences for the revolution. At the top were the big white planters, who owned the plantations and all the slaves. Often these Grands Blancs were absentee landlords, who would just rather stay in France and let their agents do, you know, the actual brutality. Below them were the wealthy free people of color. Most of the Frenchmen who came to the island were, you know, men, and they frequently fathered children with slave women.