History of the Dominican Republic

4800 b.C.
The "Siboneyes" occupied the island

200 a.C.
The Taino Indians settled from South America, through the Small Antilles, to "Hispañola" - which they called Quisqueya (Mother of the Earth).

05.12.1492
Christoph Columbus landed the first time on the Island, which he named Hispaniola (little Spain). He arrived with 3 boats, the "Santa Maria", the "Nina" and the "Pinta" near of today's Cap Haitien, where he constructed "Fortress Navidad", the "Fort Christmas".

1493
On his second journey Columbus found the fortress destroyed and decided to settle on an other part of Hispañola, in "La Isabela" next to todays city of Luperon.


1519 - 1533
Enriquillo leaded the most successful resistance against the Spanish conquerors.

11.01.1586
The English pirate, Sir Francis Drake, robbed Santo Domingo.

1605
The French started setlements at the north and west side of the island.

1697
By contract was defined, that France owns the west part of Hispañola and that Spain owns the eastern part.

1802
Napoleon's troops entered into Santo Domingo.
 

1804
Independence of Haiti from the French empire

09.02.1822
the Haitian president, Jean Pierre Boyer, entered with his troops into Santo Domingo and declared an undevideable Island of Hispaniola, what should have meant, that the entire island should be haitian.

16.07.1838
Juan Pablo Duarte founded the secret league called "Trinitaria" that later lead the land to the independence of Haiti.


27.02.1844
Proclamation of Independence.
Juan Pablo Duarte, Ramon Mella and Francisco de Rosario Sanchez (Trinitaria), declared the first Republic. Today, these men are honored by monuments, street names, parks, ...

1861
The Republic annexed to spain and lost the independence.

1865
Leaded by  General Luperon, the restauration of the Republic was declared.

1885
Ulices Hereaux (Li Li) inicialized the first dictature, until he was murdered in 1899.

1907
An agreement which allowed to overtake control and administration of all taxes was signed with the U.S..

1916
The first invasion of USA, the independence of the Republic was lost.

1924
The USA retire their troops and leave the country.

16.08.1930 - 1961 ( 30.5 Years )
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, shortform : Trujillo, build up one of the worst
dictatorship of Latin America. He renamed Santo Domingo in "Ciudad Trujillo", the Pico Duarte in "Pico Trujillo", just to point out his force. His dictatorship took until his murder ...

1947
Trujillo paied all debbits of the Republic and created the Dominican currency,
the Dominican Peso - Peso Oro, as well as the Central Bank.

1961
Trojillo was murdered

1961-65
The country lived various political crisises under different governments.

1965
The second invasion of US Troops in the Dominican Republic.

10.07.1966
Joaquin Balaguer became president.

1990
Balaguer became president of the Dominican Republic, for the 7th time.

1992
To honor Columbus, Balaguer realized the construction of the Columbus Lighthouse, the Faro a Colon - 500 years after the discovery of Hispaniola.


 

Taino Indians
The Taino Indians were the aborigines of what is the Dominican Republic today.

200 a.C. the Tainos came from South America and left parts of their
culture and civilization on all their stops on the islands of the Small Antilles.

The Tainos have been organized into tribes and lived together in a big,
round house - called "Caney". Only the leader lived in his own house called "Bohio"

The Taino culture had a highly developed artistic knowledge and they
created ceramic works for religious and daily use. There have been found
unnumbered pieces of ceramics for ceremonies, rituals, ambulates.

A company with a worldwide reputation for Taino Art Replications are the
Brother Guillen, who are located in Santo Domingo - Dominican Republic.
They deliver reconstructions of Taino Art Relicts to museums, as well as
for the private collector - for very reasonable prices.

Please see the Taino Art Section for more exiting pictures.

As Columbus discovered Quisqueya (the island of the Dominican Republic)
and the Spanish settlement took place, conflicts occurred between the
Tainos and the conquerors. To the late 16th century, the Taino Indian
Civilization was eliminated.

The most successful Taino Indian Leader,
in protecting his tribe from the conquerors, was Enriquillo.