Initial Conquest

Christopher Columbus found and claimed Hispaniola, which is now the Dominican Republic and Haiti in 1492. Four years later his brother Bartholomew Columbus found Santa Domingo the oldest city in the new world (A). The Spain Empire singed in1697 the Treaty of Ryswick ceding the western third of Hispaniola to France (A) and in 1795 Spain conceded under the treaty of Basel the other two thirds to France(B). The Dominican ex-slave Francois-Domind conquered Santa Domingo in 1801, but in 1802 Napoleon sent troops to send him to France and he died in prison (A). France fought against the Hispaniola, when Spain regained Santa Domingo. The Dominican fought against Spain and declared the independence in 1821, but in 1822 the Haitian conquered the entire island. Pedro Santana a Spanish general annexed the Dominican Republic to Spain (A) to protect the Dominican from the Haitian. On February 27, 1884 Juan Pablo Duarte led a revolution that ended successfully. However in 1586 the English admiral Sir Francis Drake captured Santo Domingo again(A). On the turn of the 19^th century the United States replaced Europe as a trading partner. The United States began in 1905 to administrate the Dominican Republic customs agency, because of the bad financial situation and in1916 the United States took complete control over the nation’s government (C). Horacio Vasquez who was an incompetent and corrupt leader won the U.S. president election (C), but in1930 a revolution under the leader Rafael Trujillo launched caused bay the economy shock of the great Depression (C). Instead of defending the government Trujillo took power himself. Trujillo ruled the next 31 years. His dictatorship was one of the cruelest, longest and most absolute in the modern times. In May 1961 he was overthrown. Juan Bosch was the first democratic president in the Dominican history. 

Colonial Experiences

With Columbus arrival the Caribbean Sea had turned into a Spanish area. The Dominican society had been based on farming, fishing, hunting, and gathering, but people from Spain built hospitals, cathedrals, schools, and monasteries.  The Europeans drew classes and casts and the Catholic Church had a strong influence on the authority (C). The most spread religion is the Catholic Church and the practice is often a mixture of Catholicism and traditions. Also the Catholic Church largely defines holidays (D). Spanish became the official language and some English was spoken in the capital. The slave trade also affected the Dominican culture. The African slaves spread their culture and the black population increased (C). A cruel slave based society and economy came into being. Hispaniola became the springboard for other Caribbean islands and the American main land (A). Gold and silver attracted foreign investors and they forced the natives to be labors in their mines (C). The work circumstances were unacceptable. The labors had to work long hours and the European stole their supplies and abused women (C). A lot of natives died of European diseases or suicide. In 1503 the Spaniards began to import slaves from Africa and in 1520 almost only African slaves worked in the mines (C). The United States placed from 1619 to 1624 thousand of troops in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. They built roads, schools, communication and sanitation facilities. The U.S. government enacted legal reforms that allowed U.S. companies to expand their operations (C). The cultural life changed through introducing baseball and chewing gum to the society. Some Dominican reacted strongly against it. In1930 Trujillo took power himself (B). It was one of the longest, cruelest, and most absolute in the modern time. He restricted the press’s freedom of explanation and had complete control over the military. Trujillo appointed family members to key officers and dominated the church, education and entertainment industry. He killed thousand of Haitian immigrants and most Dominican deeply feared him and his secret police. Trujillo renamed Santa Domingo to Ciudad Trujillo. He had an ability to control national affairs and promote public works. The stability of economy and politic attracted foreign investor and the foreign news called him “Dominican Miracle” while they didn’t mention his abuses and failures. (C)