Overview
The history of the Dominican Republic could be divided into four main periods:
the precolombian period, the Spanish/colonial period, the intermediate period and the independence period. The colonial/Spanish period starts with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and ends around 1790-1791. The intermediate period started around 1790 and finished in 1844 with the proclamation of the Dominican independence from Haiti. The independence period runs from 1844 to the present.
Before Columbus Prior to the arrival Christopher Columbus, admiral of the sea, to the Island of Kyskeya, Bohio or Haiti, it was inhabited by the Tainos or Arawaks people. See an overview about them in the Tainos/Carib page
. The Island was divided in five kingdom called caciquat.
They were the Marien, to the north west governed by Guacanagaric (Gwakanagarik); The Magua (Magwa) to the north est governed by Guarionex (Gwarionex), The Xaragua (Xaragwa) to the south west governed by Bohechio(Boekyo) succeeded by Anacaona (Anakaona) The Hyguey(Igwe) to the south est governed by Cotubanama; the Cibao in the center region governed by Caonabo (kaonabo) The five great chiefs lived in perfect harmony. They had familial links with one another. Caonabo, the chief of Cibao was married to Anacaona, the sister of Bohechio who was the chief of the Xaragwa.
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back to Caribbean directory Spanish colonial period 1492-1790
The first contact
Hispagnola was discovered by Christopher Columbus during his first voyage on December 6 1492.
According to Columbus Log book, he came to the island after discovering Cuba. From the southern tip of Cuba, he sailed on a south east direction and landed on the northwestern tip of Hispagnola (Kyskeya).
The kingdom where Columbus landed was called the Marien. The chief or Cacique name was Guakanagarik. The point of landing is now part of Haiti the country that shares the Island of Hispagnola with the Dominican Republic.
The impressions of Columbus on his first contact with the island are recorded in his log book.
Log book entry of Thursday, December 6 1492
"At the hour of vespers, we entered a harbor that I named Puerto de San Nicholas, in honor of San Nicholas (St. Nicholas) because it was his feast day. As I approached the entrance of this harbor, I marveled at its beauty and excellence. Although I have praised the harbors of Cuba greatly, this one is even superior, and none of them is similar to it.......
I hope to God that I can have some good trade in gold before I return to Spain. "
On Friday, December 7, 1492,
Columbus left the port of San Nicholas and sailed to the north east. On this course, he discovered a harbor which he named Puerto de la Conception. The present name of the Puerto de la Conception, which is now part of Haiti, is Baie Des Moustiques (Mosquito Bay).
On Sunday, December 9, 1492, the name La Espagnola appeared for the first time in his log book.
"The harbor, Puerto de la Concepcion, Columbus wrote, is 1000 paces wide at the mouth, which is equal to three
quarters of
a mile. In it there are no banks or shoals, but rather the bottom can barely be found until you go toward the shore. Inside, it is 3000 paces long, clear of rocks, and with a sandy bottom. Any ship whatsoever can anchor in ti without fear and can enter without danger. At the Head of the harbor the mouth of two rivers discharge a small quantity of water. Opposite there are some of the most beautiful plan in the world, almost like the lands of Castile, only better. Because of this, I have named the island : La Isla Espagnola."
La Navidad: the first settlement
When the
Santa Maria, the flag ship of the expedition, was lost on December 24, 1492, Columbus obtained from the Cacique (name of the ruler of each kingdom) Guacanagaric, chieftain of Marien Caciquat (name of each kingdom of the island), the concession of a piece of land where he built a fort called La Navidad. He left 30 crew members behind and returned to Spain on January 11, 1493. The area where he built this fort is now part of Haiti.
On his return voyage, Columbus came with about forty ship
and around 1500 people. He arrived near the area of the Navidad fort on November 22 1493. The Admiral could not find the Navidad and/or its crew . He learned from Guacanagaric that the fort was destroyed by Caonabo, the ruling Cacique of the Maguana (center Cibao region).
Caonabo
The Spanish encountered the fierce resistance of Caonabo, when, after being so successful in maltreating and stilling gold for the Indians of the Marien, they went into the Maguana to continue their pillage. Caonabo not only chased them away but invaded the Marien, captured and killed the occupants of the fort and set it on fire. Guacanagaric who attempted to defend his kingdom and the fort was wounded in the battle.
Foundation of Isabella: the colonization begins
I
n order not to disappoint the colonists, Columbus had to find another area. He sailed toward the east, explored a large bay, which he called the Mancenille Bay, went around a cape which he called Monte-Christi and finally settled on an area which he called the Isabella point. That point was part of another Caciquat named Magua which was governed by a Cacique named Guarionex. At the Isabella point, Columbus established a town called Isabella. It was the first town built by the
Spaniards in the Americas.
With the creation of Isabella, the colonization had effectively begun. Columbus carried a letter written by King Ferdinand to the Tainos people. The letter asserted the legal foundation of the colonization and the transformation of Tainos into West Indians subjects/vassals/slaves of the King and Queen of the Spain
(see King Ferdinand Letter to the Tainos People).
The creation of Isabella, the subjugation of the Tainos, their failed resistance against the might of the technologically more advanced Spanish/European civilization and their lack of resistance against the disease of the old world set the tone of the recorded history of Hispagnola. Even when we talked about pre-Columbian history the word
"pre-Columbian" contains implicitly the idea of the non existence of anything valuable prior to the arrival of Columbus. Attempts of rectification of this historical perspective have been made but the lack of historical records make the research about the Tainos and Caribs people the domain of archeology and ethnology. Therefore, once in a while, a person proclaims that he/she has found the holy grail that will allow a complete understanding of the Tainos/Caribs but in fact some more
serious factual research need to be done before modern science can achieve a synthetic understanding the pre-Columbian civilization of the west Indies. Colonization implementation and casualties
After the destruction of La Navidad and the subsequent realization that Isabella could not live to its promises, Spain's first permanent settlement in the New World was established 1496 on the southern coast at the present site of Santo Domingo (the capital of the Dominican Republic)
by Bartolomeo Columbus, the brother of Christopher Columbus. Under Spanish sovereignty, the entire island bore the name Santo Domingo. Indications of the presence of gold and a population of tractable natives who could be used as laborers combined to attract a flood of Spanish newcomers during the early years. Most were adventurers who, at least initially, were more interested in acquiring sudden wealth than they were in settling the land. Their relations with the Taino Indians, whom they
ruthlessly maltreated, deteriorated from the beginning. Aroused by continued seizures of their food supplies, other exactions, and abuse of their women, the formerly peaceful Indians rebelled. The First chief of the rebellion was Caonabo. After his capture, his brother Manikatex became the leader of the resistance of the Tainos. The biggest clash between the Tainos and the Spaniards happened during the battle of the Vega Real. History reports that 100.000 Indians marched against the
newly established town of Isabella. They were soundly defeated. The battle of the Vega Real (the plain of Santiago) was the biggest battle fought by the the Indians of Hispagnola against the Spanish.. By loosing that battle, they became a defeated people. The price of this defeat was the political transformation of the land of Hispagnola (Kyskeya, Bohio, Haiti) and its inhabitants into a natural resource of the
Spanish Crown. This political transformation of the Indians and of their land was accomplished by Christopher Columbus who governed the colony until 1499, Don Francisco Bobadilla who succeeded him and Nicholas de Ovando. Columbus and de Ovando implemented the colonization of Hispagnola (Kyskeya) through two key executive acts: Repartimiento and Encomienda. Repartimiento and encomienda
To meet the demands of the Spaniards, Columbus devised the repartimiento system of land settlement and native labor under which a settler, without assuming any obligation to the authorities, could be
granted in perpetuity a large tract of land together with the services of the Indians living on it.
Through the repartimiento system, the Indian became a natural resource that was allocated by Columbus to the Spanish colonists. Some apologists of Columbus have argued that he created the repartimiento to protect the Indians but, even by pushing to the extreme, our desire to forgive Columbus we cannot erase the fact that he was,
through the creation of the repartimiento, the founding father of slavery in the Americas.
Columbus repartimiento system did not improve the condition of the Indians. The Spanish crown changed it by instituting the system of encomienda in 1503. Nicholas de Ovando who arrived in 1502 to replace the ineffective, Don Francisco Bobadilla, was the Spanish governor who applied the encomienda all over the island. Under the encomienda
system, all lands became, in theory, the property of the crown, and the Indians thus were considered tenants on royal land. The crown's right to service from the tenants could be transferred in trust to individual Spanish settlers (encomienderos) by formal grant and the regular payment of tribute. The encomienderos were entitled to certain days of labor from the Indians, who became their charges. Encomienderos thus assumed the responsibility of providing for the
physical well-being of the Indians and for their instruction in Christianity.
In order to establish the complete domination of the Island by the Spanish Crown, De Ovando launched the final operation of subjugation of the Xaragua (south west of the island) and the Hyguey (south east), the last two caciquats that were still free of Spanish domination and the payment of a tribute to Crown. Queen Anacaona
The First victim was Anacaona , the Queen of the Xaragua and the
wife of Caonabo . She succeeded her brother Bohecio in power. .History reports that de Ovando announced a visit of friendship to the Xaragua. Anacaona, not knowing the intentions of de Ovando, felt honored. Escorted by lots of young women covered with flower, she received Ovando and the Spaniards at the border of the kingdom. It was with the welcoming chants of the Areytos that de Ovando was led to Yaguana
(present day Leogane Haiti) the capital of the Xaragua.. De Ovando announced that, on the following Sunday, he intended to organize a big feast for all the chiefs of the Xaragua. On the day of the feast, Anacaona and the chiefs of the Xaragua went into a great room prepared by the Spanish. They were followed by Spanish horsemen which showed their great talents to the assistance. Suddenly, de Ovando gave
the signal to seize the Indians by touching his Alcantara Cross. The Indians were arrested and attached to the columns of the room. After a brief judgment, they were condemned to die. The Spanish left the room and set it on fire. Anacaona was arrested, transferred to Santo Domingo and hanged. Cotubanama
After the subjugation of the Xaragua, the next target was the Hyguey which was governed by Cotubanama. He resisted against the first
attempt of the Spanish but was finally vanquished. He sought refuge in the island of Saona where he was captured. Like Anacaona, he was hanged. Cotubanama was the last bastion of the Tainos resistance against the Spanish invasion.
Because of the success of Nicholas de Ovando in initiating the measures desired by the Crown, among them the encomienda and the total subjugation of the Indians, he received the title of Founder of Spain's Empire in the Indies.
After the fall of the Hyguey, the Indian population died off rapidly from exhaustion, starvation, massacre, suicide and disease. By 1548 the Taino population, estimated at 1 million in 1492, had been reduced to approximately 500. The need for a new labor force to meet the growing demands of sugarcane cultivation prompted the importation of African slaves beginning in 1503. By 1520, African labor was used almost exclusively.
For reference: see the Afrocaribbean history, roots and culture page The Audiencia
In 1509 Columbus's son, Don Diego Columbus, was appointed governor of the colony of Santo Domingo. Diego had a very rich estate . As a resulted of his perceived excesses the crown of Spain established the audiencia in 1511. The first Audiencia was simply a tribunal composed
of three judges whose jurisdiction extended over all the West Indies. In this region, it formed the highest court of appeal. The usage of the Audiencia eventually spread throughout Spanish America. The tribunal's influence grew, and in 1524 it was designated the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo, with jurisdiction in the Caribbean, the Atlantic coast of Central America and Mexico, and the northern coast of South America, including all of what is now Venezuela and part of present-day Colombia. The Council of the Indies
The Council of the Indies, created by Charles V in 1524, was the
Spanish crown's main agency for directing colonial affairs. During most of its existence, the council exercised almost absolute power in making laws, administering justice, controlling finance and trade, supervising the church, and directing armies. The arm of the Council of the Indies that dealt with all matters concerning commerce between Spain and its colonies in the Americas was the House of Trade (Casa de Contratación), organized in 1503. Control of commerce in general, and of tax collection in particular, was facilitated by the designation of monopoly seaports on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. During most of the colonial period, overseas trade
consisted largely of annual convoys between monopoly ports. Trade between the colonies and countries other than Spain was prohibited. The crown also restricted trade among the colonies. These restrictions hampered economic activity in the New World and encouraged contraband traffic.
The colony of Santo Domingo became gradually the provisioning port and jump-off place for some of Spain's greatest expeditions to the New
World. The list of explorers who sailed from this port is very impressive: Ponce de León went to Puerto Rico. Velásquez sailed from there to Cuba. Cortés embarked there to go to his conquest of Mexico. Sir Francis Drake left his mark on the port of Santo-Domingo by attacking and ransacking it, and then setting fire to it in 1586.
Santo Domingo's prestige began to decline in the first part of the sixteenth century with the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés in 1521
and the discovery there, and later in Peru, of great wealth in gold and silver. These events coincided with the exhaustion of the alluvial deposits of gold and the dying off of the Indian labor force in Santo Domingo. Large numbers of colonists left for Mexico and Peru; new immigrants from Spain largely bypassed Santo Domingo for the greater wealth to be found in lands to the west. The population of Santo Domingo dwindled, agriculture languished, and Spain soon became preoccupied with its
richer and vaster mainland colonies.
The stagnation that prevailed in Santo Domingo for the next 250 years was interrupted on several occasions by armed engagements, as the French and the English attempted to weaken Spain's economic and political dominance in the New World. In 1586 the English admiral, Sir Francis Drake, captured the city of Santo Domingo and collected a ransom for its return to Spanish control. In 1655 Oliver Cromwell
dispatched an English fleet, commanded by Sir William Penn, to take Santo Domingo. After meeting heavy resistance, the English sailed farther west and took Jamaica instead.
The withdrawal of the colonial government from the northern coastal region opened the way for French buccaneers, who had a base on Tortuga Island (Ile de la Tortue), off the northwest coast of present-day Haiti, to settle on Hispagnola in the mid- seventeenth century. . The
creation of the French West India Company in 1664 signaled France's intention to colonize western Hispagnola. Intermittent warfare went on between French and Spanish settlers over the next three decades. In 1697, under the Treaty of Ryswick, Spain ceded the western third of the island to France.
The monopoly policies of Spain and the migration of the Spanish colonist to other lands in the New world mainland led to a massive
decline of the population of Santo Domingo. This decline stopped when around 1765 the Caribbean islands received authorization for almost unlimited trade with Spanish ports. The Spanish colonies in the Americas received permission to trade among themselves in 1774. back to the top back to Dominican Republic index back to Caribbean Directory
The intermediate period 1791-1844 The slave uprising of Saint Domingue As a result of the stimulus provided by the trade reforms, the population
of the colony of Santo Domingo increased from about 6,000 in 1737 to approximately 125,000 in 1790-1791. Of this number, about 40,000 were white landowners, about 25,000 were black or mulatto freedmen, and some 60,000 were slaves. By comparison the population composition of the neighboring French colony of Saint-Domingue (present day Haiti), where some 30,000 whites and 27,000 freedmen extracted labor from at least 500,000 black slaves.
Saint Domingue was a prosperous colony but it was also a powder keg of social and economic revendications that exploded during the French Revolution.
Every single class/caste of Saint Domingue had its revendications. The upper class of the grands planters ( rich white French plantation owners) were constantly protesting against the commerce monopoly of France and their lack of political influence on the governance of the colony.
The petits blancs (poor white: artisans, plantation overseers) wanted to clime the social ladder to become respected gentlemen, The gens de couleurs (free mulattos and blacks), some of them rich slave owners and educated, wanted to be treated as equal to the whites and as citizens of France.
However among the class/cast of Saint Domingue none had more revendications than the slave. He worked the most, from sun up to
sundown, without any compensation whatsoever. He was subject to the brutality of the master. Within colonial Saint Domingue, he was the embodiment of the global pain of colonization, exploitation and racism. The slave of Saint Domingue had the number (nearly 500.000 around 1789) and the natural cause of human justice on his side when the historical struggle for rectification of the human condition started in France in 1787
Between 1787 and 1793, history will witness the failed attempt of the whites to free themselves from French monopoly by protesting in France and making alliances with England, the unsuccessful push of the mulattos to gain their integration into the white upper class of the colony even at the expense of their black allies. However, none of those movements had the political, social and economic impact of the slave revolt of 1791. It was, because of the immensity of the property
devastation and the astronomic loss of human lives it generated, the most important event in the colonial period of the island of Hispagnola. Its shock waves were felt in Jamaica, in Cuba, in the United States and in Europe. Santo Domingo, being the colonial neighbor of Saint Domingue, felt, more than any other part of the world, the emotional, economic and historical impact of the slave uprising of 1791 which is considered the core event of the Haitian revolution. An incredible
cascade of events that will forever intertwine the history of the Dominican republic (formerly Santo Domingo) and Haiti (San Domingue) will follow.
From the Spanish invasion to the Independence of the Dominican Republic in 1844 Upon receiving the news of the massacre of whites in Sant Domingue the first reaction of the Spanish land owners of the Santo Domingo (the name given at that time to the eastern Spanish portion of the island) was fear and flight. Such was not however the position of the Spanish Crown
which saw, in the turmoil of the Haitian revolution and the weakness of revolutionary France, an opportunity to recapture the whole island.
The historical background of the Saint Domingue invasion was the European war which started on April 20, 1792, when France and Austria began their hostility. By early March 1793, the first coalition between Austria, Prussia, Spain, Holland and England confronted France. This alliance allowed Spain to start, along with England, the conquest of
Saint Domingue. The Strategy of this conquest rested heavily on the utilization of the army of revolted slaves which were led by Jean Francois, Biassou and Jeannot.
Within the leadership of the black army fighting for Spain will emerge a figure that will change the history of the island forever. It was Toussaint Louverture. When he started to fight in the French camp, under the republican flag in may 1794, he struck the Spanish with the fierceness of
a tornado. He restored France authority on the west portion of the island and proceeded to enforce the peace treaty of Basle of 1795 by which the Spain ceded the Eastern portion of the Island to France. The enforcement of this treaty was accomplished by the invasion of the Eastern portion of the island in 1801. Toussaint Louverture changed nothing in the institutional schematic of Santo Domingo except for the abolition of slavery. His rule over Santo Domingo would last until his
demise and subsequent exile and death in France, when Bonaparte send an expedition to restore and consolidate the monopolistic power of France on the whole island After the Haitian independence in 1804, Dessalines, the founder of Haiti, attempted in 1805 to conquer the Eastern portion of Island but failed. Santo Domingo stayed under French domination.
By 1808 a number of émigrés Spanish landowners had returned to Santo
Domingo. These royalists had no intention of living under French rule. They sought foreign assistance for a rebellion that would restore Spanish sovereignty. Help came from the Haitians, who provided arms, and from the British, who occupied Samaná and blockaded the port of Santo Domingo. The remaining French representatives fled the island in July 1809 The next important event in the history of the Dominican Republic is the proclamation of Independence from Spain in 1821 by which it took the name of Spanish Haiti. This short period was followed by the invasion by Haiti and the unification of the island under Haitian flag until 1844.
The dictatorial rule of the Haitian authorities and the lack of integration of Dominicans in the governance of the eastern portion of the island transformed the unification into a repressive occupation which fermented the nationalistic claims of Dominicans for their independence from Haiti. The central figure of the Dominican independence from Haiti is Juan Palo Duarte. He organized the resistance against the Haitians through an underground movement called La Trinitaria
(taken its name from its original organizational structure which was comprised of 9 people divided in 3 cells). Duarte was very different than the authoritarian, personalistic caudillos who lead the nation during the earlier period of its existence as an independent national entity. He is considered the father of the independence of the Dominican Republic.
Much of the resentment of Dominicans toward Haitians is rooted in the
behavior of Haitian officials during the period of unification. The massacre of some 35.000 Haitians by Raphael Leonidas Trujillo Molina in 1934 is seen by many historians as an act of revenge by the Dominicans against the Haitians under the cover of national sovereignty and ethnic purification. The antihaitian sentiment has been since the independence a major element in Dominican politics. With Trujillo, it
became a major strategic instrument for all Dominican politicians that want to ascend to power. Recently, in the eighties and nineties, a popular black Dominican politician named Dr. Jose Francisco Pena Gomez failed to become the president of the country because he was accused of being Haitian.
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The independence period from 1844 to the present
Following independence from Haiti in 1844, the history of the country is characterized by political instability for almost a century. One surprising historical fact is its return under Spanish rule for brief period. The
autocratic and dictatorial rule of the early caudillo leaders set a tone of governance which led to the ascension of dictator Raphael Leonidas Trujillo Molina (1891-1961) who seized power in 1930 . He ruled the country in repressive authoritarian fashion until his assassination in 1961. A Brief civil war broke out in 1965 between liberal Constitutionalists (supporters of 1963 constitution promulgated during short-lived presidency of Juan Bosch Gaviño) and conservative Loyalist
military factions. The conflict was aborted by direct military intervention by United States. Subsequent elections brought Trujillo protégé Balaguer to the presidency, an office he held for twelve years. Balaguer's attempt to nullify 1978 elections was thwarted by pressure from Washington, allowing Silvestre Antonio Guzmán Fernandez of social democratic Dominican Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Dominicano--PRD) to assume the nation's leadership. The PRD also
won 1982 elections with lawyer Salvador Jorge Blanco as its standard bearer. Both PRD governments were plagued by economic difficulties that forced them to institute austerity measures instead of social reforms they initially advocated. The declining of the popularity of the Jorge Blanco government contributed to Balaguer's election for a fourth term beginning in 1986 |
