 The colony's environment also suffered, as forests were cleared to make way for plantations and the land was overworked so as to extract maximum profit for French plantation owners.As in its Louisiana colony, the French colonial government allowed some rights to free people of color ("gens de couleur"), the mixed-race descendants of European male colonists and African female slaves (and later, mixed-race women).Over time, many were released from slavery and they established a separate social class.