History History

The history of the Dominican Republic begins with an island called Quisqueya, "the mother of all lands" in the Taino language. Relatively little is known about the island's original inhabitants, and what we do know comes from a few tales told by monks and settlers.

The indigenous population living on the island at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards amounted to 2 million people according to UNESCO data, only 600,000 according to various other sources, and was composed of groups of aborigines, the Arawaks, who came from the tropical forests of Venezuela. These Arawaks, who became Tainos, were called Indians by the Spaniards, who were convinced that they had arrived in India.

The purpose of the conquest was to bring gold, silver, precious stones and new plant species to Spain, to control the New World territories politically and to convert the Indians to Catholicism. Española, later called Hispaniola, soon appeared to be the ideal place to establish the first Spanish colony, especially since, according to the natives, gold was abundant on the island. The debris from the wrecked Santa María was used to build the first fort on the north coast, called the Fort of the Nativity (La Navidad). When he left for Spain, Columbus left thirty-nine men behind. Ten months later, on November 22, 1493, he returned. The great admiral found no trace of his men around the devastated fort. Retaliation expeditions were then launched against the Indians.

Following the fiasco, Columbus sought to establish a new colony in a bay, east of the old fort of the Nativity, still on the north coast. The chosen place seemed promising: a wide river flowing into a vast bay - a natural harbour in short -, a high plateau with a clear view over a good part of the interior of the territory... Although the unhealthy nature of the coast made construction difficult, the city of La Isabela, named after the Queen of Spain, was built on January 2, 1494 (to the west of the present Puerto Plata)

The conquistadors in search of gold discovered the deposits of the mountains and the plain of Cibao. Gold is there, and it is enough to make people covetous. The Spaniards were more and more demanding and put pressure on the natives to discover other places richer in gold. The Indians who refused to collaborate were imprisoned in La Isabela and then executed by the colonists to serve as an example. This episode sounds the death knell of the good relations between conquerors and natives.

La Isabela, the first permanent settlement in the New World, was abandoned in favour of La Nueva Isabela. It was founded in 1496 in the south of the island, at the mouth of the Ozama River, by Bartolomeo Columbus, younger brother of Christopher Columbus.

Jealous, criticized for his administration, Christopher Columbus gradually lost his credit with the Catholic Kings. Exacerbated by rivalries, intrigues and rebellions followed one another in the small colony. The Spanish court was at the heart of these intrigues, and the slanders found an echo in King Ferdinand, who had never been very favorable to the Genoese. Columbus was deprived of his title of governor of the New World in favour of François de Bobadilla, a poor, self-interested, ambitious and very violent gentleman. He became governor of the new American territories in 1499 and had Columbus arrested. He immediately began a trial during which Columbus was accused of bad administration, embezzlement of salaries, illegitimate wars... Bobadilla had the admiral sent back to Spain with his brothers. They arrived in irons, like criminals. Faced with the pressure of public opinion, the Catholic Monarchs disavowed Bobadilla and decided to abandon all proceedings against the great admiral who left for Hispaniola.

In 1502, La Nueva Isabela was destroyed by a cyclone. Santo Domingo de Guzmán was then born on the west bank of the same river. The future capital of the Dominican Republic was named after the Spanish saint Santo Domingo de Gúzman (1170-1221), founder of the Dominican order. Bobadilla, replaced by Nicolás de Ovando in 1502, lost his life at sea that same year. On his return voyage to Spain, his ship and eighteen others were caught in a hurricane and sank just after leaving Santo Domingo de Gúzman.

Grand Commander of the Order of Alcantara, he was the new governor chosen by Ferdinand and Isabella for a two-year term of office following the disavowal of Bobadilla. On February 13, 1502, he embarked with 2,500 colonists on 30 ships, the largest fleet ever to sail to the Americas. Under his direction, the new capital will develop rapidly. He was its architect: the island became the center of Spanish power, the heart of the new empire where all decisions concerning the exploration of the New World were taken. Encouraged by the Spanish Crown, he ordered the first importation of African slaves into the New World to work in the sugar cane fields. Also, the labor force of the natives was used for the production of food and for mining, mainly gold. Under her government, Queen Isabella authorized the distribution of the Indians among the Spanish colonists by a decree on December 20, 1503: this was the beginning of the Encomienda, a colonial system of slavery and Spanish evangelization in the New World. Nicolás de Ovando applied this decree in a cruel way and decimated a good part of the Taino population - including the famous cacique Anacaona -, who were not inclined to submit.

During this time, Christopher Columbus continued his expeditions, removed from the administration of the colony by the Catholic Kings. In September 1504, Columbus left for Spain, he would not return to the New World he had discovered. On his arrival at the port of San Lucar, he learns of the disappearance of Isabella, who died on November 9. With her he lost his only ally. In spite of his efforts, he will not regain his office of viceroy and will die in disgrace.

The country was named the island of Santo Domingo (Santo Domingo) by decision of King Ferdinand. Its name of Quisqueya, or "mother of all lands" in Taino, was abandoned.

In 1509, Diego Columbus, the admiral's son, succeeded Nicolás de Ovando. The new governor general soon lost the title of viceroy of the Indies and Ferdinand, the Spanish sovereign who was now the sole ruler, limited his powers.

This famous sermon was delivered by Antonio de Montesinos, a Dominican priest from the island of Hispaniola who preceded Bartolomé de Las Casas in defending the rights of the American Indians in the Spanish empire. Montesinos denounces the injustices he witnessed with this speech: "The voice that cries out in the desert of this island is me, and I tell you that you are all in mortal sin because of your cruelty to an innocent race. Are these people not men? Do they not have a soul?

Moved by Montesinos' report, the king decided to convene an assembly of theologians and jurists whose work led to the laws of Burgos (December 27, 1512) which reduced forced labor of the natives to nine months per year and forced the encomenderos to evangelize the Indians.

This Dominican missionary priest, both writer and historian, was part of the Nicolás de Ovando settlement convoy of 1502. A fervent defender of the rights of the Amerindians, his efforts combined with those of Antonio de Montesinos led to the adoption of the Laws of Burgos (1512), in favour of the protection of the indigenous population. However, these laws came too late and could not stop the disappearance of the Indians. He will remain known as the historian of the discovery of the Americas.

In 1516 the first sugar cane mill in the New World was built on Hispaniola. From then on, the need for an abundant workforce became more pressing. The genocide of the indigenous population forced the Spaniards to look for another source of labour, turning to the Caribbean Indians, but without success. The massive importation of African slaves, mainly from West Africa, then began and lasted for two decades.

The first slave revolts in the New World broke out. In 1522, Wolof slaves working on a plantation in Hispaniola rose up and managed to escape to the mountains. This was the beginning of the Maroon communities in America, also known as Cimarron groups, which gradually gained in importance and represented a danger for the colonists travelling outside their plantations.

The 1540s marked the beginning of piracy in the Caribbean Sea: the English, Dutch and French sailed the seas and attacked, among others, the ships of the Spanish Crown.

The new American territories, such as Brazil, were rich and quickly became major sugar producers. The exodus of settlers increased. Hispaniola is soon no more than a stopover on the way to more prosperous territories. In 1561, Havana became the official home port of the Spanish mercantile fleets, signaling the end of the sugar industry in Hispaniola.

The cities of the interior of the island are devastated by a powerful earthquake in 1564: Santiago de los Caballeros and Concepción de La Vega are destroyed.

From January 11 to February 10, 1586, the Englishman Francis Drake organized the sacking of the capital, for the liberation of which he demanded an enormous ransom, which Spain paid.

Despite the lack of gold, the island subsisted on the trade of wood, sugar, tobacco, cotton and ginger. But the Spanish sovereign firmly regulated trade with other European powers, gradually ruining the island's already faltering economy for a century. This was the moment chosen by France to try to nibble away at the Spanish hegemony. The French landed on the island of Tortue, a few blocks from the north coast, and on the entire western part of Santo Domingo, starting in 1655. Despite this illegal occupation, the French appointed Bertrand d'Ogeron de La Bouëre as governor.

In 1697, Spain recognized the French occupation. The Treaty of Ryswick formalized its control of the western part of the island, which became the French colony of Santo Domingo. The eastern part of the island remained a Spanish possession under the name of Audienca Española de Santo Domingo.

On June 3, 1777, the Treaty of Aranjuez established the borders between the two colonies.

The history of the island was henceforth linked to that of the French Revolution, and 1791 marked the beginning of the slave insurrection led by Toussaint Louverture. The revolt broke out on 23 August 1791.

Toussaint Louverture, a former slave who became the leader of the insurrectionary movement, chose his side. Allied with the French, he drove out the English and Spanish after a bloody struggle. He became governor of the western part in 1795 after having pacified it. That same year, the era of France began: the Treaty of Basel attached the Spanish part of the island to France, which then had the richest European colony in the New World with 500,000 slaves for 30,000 colonists.

In 1801, Toussaint Louverture had a new constitution adopted, against the advice of Napoleon. France sent troops to regain control, but the expedition turned into a rout and the losses in men were enormous.

The following year, in 1802, Toussaint Louverture, whose mode of government was considered too autonomous, was taken prisoner and brought to Paris where he died a year later. The eastern part of the island became Spanish again.

The Republic of Haiti was proclaimed on January 1, 1804. Haiti was the first country to free itself from colonialism. A former slave, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, became its emperor.

In 1805, the Haitian armies invaded the eastern part of the island, which had become Spanish again. But the battle of Palo Hincado, in 1809, marked the victory of the Spanish armies, helped by the British navy, over the Haitians. There followed a brief period of semi-independence, known as La España Boba, during which the metropolis gradually abandoned its colony.

This period ended with the declaration of independence by José Nuñez Cacéres on November 4, 1821, and the birth of the Independent State of Spanish Haiti on December 10.

However, this independence was short-lived, because in January 1822, the young Republic was once again annexed by the Haitian troops of President Jean-Pierre Boyer, who declared the island one and indivisible. It remained under Haitian rule for twenty-two years, until 1844.

The island is definitively separated in two parts. Independence was declared at the Conde Gate, and the western part took the name of Dominican Republic on February 27, 1844. The three fathers of the fatherland, Juan Pablo Duarte, Francisco del Rosario Sanchez and Ramón Matias Mella, succeeded in freeing the country from the Haitian domination thanks to the effectiveness of their secret society, the Trinitaria.

Duarte, helped by several high ranking military officers, was elected President of the Republic on June 9, 1844, but political rivalries soon arose. General Santana, supported by the army, marched on the capital and seized power. On August 22, 1844, Duarte was deposed and went into exile in Venezuela.

For the next twenty-five years, the struggle for power was between Generals Pedro Santana and Buenaventura Báez. In March 1861, faced with Haiti's expansionist intentions and at the request of Dominican President Pedro Santana, the country became a Spanish colony again for four years. A new rebellion broke out against this domination.

In the mountains of Capotillo, the Restoration of the Republic was proclaimed on August 16, 1863. The war of the Restoration had begun, led by General Gregorio Luperón. It lasted a little over a year and a half and ended with the rout of the Spanish armies in 1865.

The Second Republic was born. But the new independence was still fragile. So much so that in 1869 President Báez proposed the annexation of his country to its great and powerful neighbour, the United States of America. The American Senate refused the offer.

The dictatorship of President Ulises Heureaux bloodied the country from 1884 until his assassination in Moca in 1899.

National bankruptcy. The United States took control of the national finances in 1907.

In 1916, the landing of the American marines foreshadowed the United States' takeover of the country. The economy was completely reoriented according to the specific needs of the United States. Powerful American companies set up shop, annexing agricultural and mining production.

The Third Republic was born with the election of Horacio Vásquez in 1924. He governed until 1930, when he was driven out of power by a coup d'état.

"His Excellency Generalissimo Doctor Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, Honorable President of the Republic, Benefactor of the Fatherland and Reconstructor of Financial Independence" is simply the official formula that designates the new dictator who came to power thanks to the military coup of April 11, 1930. General and head of the Dominican army, Trujillo ousted the first president of the Republic, freely elected in 1924, Horacio Vásquez. An absolute megalomaniac, he established one of the most tyrannical and repressive dictatorships in Latin America, which lasted some thirty years.

To combat Haitian emigration, the murder of nearly 20,000 Haitians was perpetrated in 1937.

Hector Trujillo, brother of the dictator, is elected to the presidency of the Republic. But this election is only a facade and Hector is only a figurehead, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina continuing to pull the strings behind the scenes.

In August 1960, Joaquín Balaguer, former secretary of state, replaced Hector Trujillo, the dictator's brother, as president of the Republic.

A plot hatched by many former collaborators, military and political will put an end to the reign of the tyrant Trujillo who manipulates in the shade his puppet presidents: the generalissimo Rafael Trujillo dies assassinated, riddled with bullets in his car on the road of San Cristóbal, in circumstances never completely elucidated the night of May 30, 1961.

The Cuban revolution was then in full swing and the influence of this close neighbour was felt in Dominican political and social life. After the Balaguer interlude, Juan Bosch Gavino, the leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, of socialist persuasion, came to power in 1962, after twenty-five years in exile. The following year, he was overthrown by the army and the extreme right.

On April 24, 1965, as a mass uprising supported by leftist groups disrupted the government, a popular army defeated the army of Wessin y Wessin, who asked for help from the United States. The United States decided to intervene, scalded by the Cuban example and the looming communist threat.

The last American intervention took place at the end of May 1965. 40,000 soldiers occupied the island under the pretext of protecting their nationals.

In 1966, the elections brought Joaquín Balaguer back to power. He remained in power until 1978, advocating a pro-American, anti-communist, authoritarian and repressive policy aimed at revitalizing the economy.

Born in Navarrete, lawyer, poet, politician, and former Trujillo minister, he finished his eighth consecutive term in 1996. Founder of the PRSC (Social Christian Reformist Party), he obtained his doctorate in law at the Sorbonne in the early 1930s. A prolific writer, he was a professor at the Ecole Normale, a lawyer, an ambassador and a minister. He was president of the Republic when Trujillo was assassinated, returned to power in 1966 and remained in office for more than ten years. He was again elected president in 1986 and 1990. Despite his old age, he was reelected for two years in the presidential elections of May 1994. He died on 14 July 2002 at the age of 95.

Election of the opponent Antonio Guzman, of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) to the presidency of the Republic.

Two cyclones devastate the island.

Salvador José Blanco, of the PRD, succeeds Antonio Guzman.

Inauguration of the Faro a Colón (Lighthouse to Columbus), in Santo Domingo, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus.

At 89 years of age and practically blind, Balaguer, after announcing on February 25, 1993 that he would not seek a seventh term in office, reversed his declarations and was re-elected president in 1994 on behalf of the PRSC. However, the election results were widely contested by the opposition parties, and President Balaguer was discredited in the eyes of international opinion. Indeed, candidate Peña Gómez was well ahead in the first estimates when a nationwide power outage changed the results of the election count. To appease international discontent and the poorly contained violence in the country, an agreement was reached that left Balaguer in the presidency for two years and set exceptional elections for 1996.

Leonel Fernández Reyna of the Liberation Party (PLD) wins the presidential elections against Peña Gómez.

Leonel Fernández returned in 2004 and was re-elected again in 2008 with 53.83% of the vote, against the Dominican Revolutionary Party candidate Miguel Vargas Maldonado.

Adoption of the new Constitution removing the term limit for the President of the Republic, aligning the dates of legislative elections with those of the presidential elections and completely prohibiting abortion.

Although the earthquake that devastated Haiti did not directly affect the Dominican Republic, it brought the two nations, which had previously been at loggerheads on the diplomatic front, closer together.

Election of Danilo Medina to the presidency of the Republic, in the first round, with 51.2% of the votes before Hipólito Mejía (president from 2000 to 2004). During his mandate, several major projects were carried out, notably in terms of road infrastructures.

In terms of foreign policy, the law restricting Haitian immigration passed in 2013 drew strong criticism from the international community. The change in the law regulating the acquisition of Dominican nationality has stripped thousands of Haitians of their papers, and made many stateless.

Danilo Medina was re-elected President of the Republic in the first round with 61.8% of the vote, ahead of Luis Abinader (35%).

Lebanese-born businessman Luis Abinader, a member of the moderate left-wing PRD party, was elected president of the Dominican Republic. He made his first diplomatic visit to Puerto Rico on January 2, 2021, during the swearing in of new governor Pedro Pierluisi.

The President launches the construction of a 160 km wall on the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti to control illegal immigration - a measure that reinforces the country's anti-Haitian policy. Of the 10.5 million people living in the Dominican Republic, 500,000 are Haitian immigrants, the vast majority of whom arrived illegally to escape the difficult living conditions in their homeland. Today, this wall poses numerous humanitarian, ecological and health problems, and is the subject of much international criticism.

The Dominican Minister of the Environment, Orlando Jorge Mera, was shot dead in his office. The man responsible was a businessman close to the Minister who was opposed to his policies.

On September 14, 2023, Dominican President Luis Abinader announced the closure of land, air and sea borders with Haiti - a complete shutdown. This drastic measure was taken following a dispute over the construction of an irrigation canal drawing water from a binational river, the Rivière Massacre. A month later, on October 11, a partial reopening was announced to allow the establishment of temporary trade corridors. However, the situation remains very tense. To be continued.