The recorded history of the Dominican Republic began in 1492 when Christopher Columbus, working for the Crown of Castile, arrived at a large island in the western Atlantic Ocean, later known as the Caribbean. The native Taíno people, an Arawakan people, had inhabited the island during the pre-Columbian era, dividing it into five chiefdoms. They referred to the eastern part of the island as Quisqueya, meaning 'mother of all lands.' Columbus claimed the island for Castile, naming it La Isla Española, which was later Latinized to Hispaniola.
A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by slaves, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of slaves have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freedom and the dream of successful rebellion is often the greatest object of song, art, and culture amongst the enslaved population. These events, however, are often violently opposed and suppressed by slaveholders.
Saint-Domingue was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1697 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer specifically to the Spanish-held Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, now the Dominican Republic. The borders between the two were fluid and changed over time until they were finally solidified in the Dominican War of Independence in 1844.
San Cristóbal is a city in the southern region of Dominican Republic. It is the municipal (municipio) capital of the San Cristóbal province. The municipality is located in a valley at the foothills of the mountains belonging to the Cordillera Central, between the Nigua and Nizao rivers. Within this municipality there is one municipal district : Hato Damas.
Diego Columbus was a navigator and explorer under the Kings of Castile and Aragón. He served as the 2nd Admiral of the Indies, 2nd Viceroy of the Indies and 4th Governor of the Indies as a vassal to the Kings of Castile and Aragón. He was the eldest son of Christopher Columbus and his wife Filipa Moniz Perestrelo.
The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known slave uprising in human history that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery and ruled by non-whites and former captives.
George Biassou was an early leader of the 1791 slave rising in Saint-Domingue that began the Haitian Revolution. With Jean-François and Jeannot, he was prophesied by the vodou priest Dutty Boukman to lead the revolution.
Afro-Dominicans are Dominicans of predominant or total Sub-Saharan African ancestry. They are a minority in the country representing 7.5% or 642,018 of the population, according to the 2022 census.
Year of the Lash is a term used in Cuba in reference to 29 June 1844, when a firing squad in Havana executed accused leaders of the Conspiración de La Escalera, an alleged slave revolt and movement to abolish slavery in Cuba. The term "Year of the Lash" refers generally to the harsh response toward the would-be revolt by the Cuban colonial authorities, whereby thousands of Afro-Cubans were executed, imprisoned, or banished from the island. La Escalera alludes to the fact that slave suspects were bound to ladders and whipped with the lash when they were interrogated.
The Captaincy General of Santo Domingo was the first Capitancy in the New World, established by Spain in 1492 on the island of Hispaniola. The Capitancy, under the jurisdiction of the Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo, was granted administrative powers over the Spanish possessions in the Caribbean and most of its mainland coasts, making Santo Domingo the principal political entity of the early colonial period.
The Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo was the annexation and merger of then-independent Republic of Spanish Haiti into the Republic of Haiti, that lasted twenty-two years, from February 9, 1822, to February 27, 1844. The part of Hispaniola under Spanish administration was first ceded to France and merged with the French colony of Saint Domingue as a result of the Peace of Basel in 1795. However, with the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution the French lost the western part of the island, while remaining in control of the eastern part of the island until the Spanish recaptured Santo Domingo in 1809.
In the history of the Dominican Republic, the period of España Boba lasted from 9 July 1809 to 1 December 1821, during which the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo was under Spanish rule, but the Spanish government exercised minimal powers because its resources were attenuated by the Peninsular War and the various Spanish American wars of independence. The period ended when Dominican officials declared a short-lived independence on 30 November 1821. In February 1822, Haiti annexed former Santo Domingo, leading to an occupation that lasted until 1844.
In the history of the Dominican Republic, the period of Era de Francia occurred in 1795 when France acquired the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, annexed it into Saint-Domingue and briefly came to acquire the whole island of Hispaniola by the way of the Treaty of Basel, allowing Spain to cede the eastern province as a consequence of the French Revolutionary Wars.
The Nigua Sugar Mill, Boca de Nigua, is located 13 km to the west of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, in Santo Domingo Province. Founded by the Marquis De Aranda, but later owned by Juan Bautista Ollarazaba, the site was once an important production facility in the regional sugar industry. It exhibits a mill and boiling room, as well as some historic Spanish colonial architecture. This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on November 21, 2001 in the Cultural category.
White Dominicans, also known as Caucasian Dominicans, are Dominican people of total or predominantly European ancestry. The 2022 Dominican Republic census reported that 1,611,752 people or 18.7% of those 12 years old and above identify as white, 731,855 males and 879,897 females. An estimate put it at 17.8% of the Dominican Republic's population, according to a 2021 survey by the United Nations Population Fund.
White Haitians, are Haitians of predominant or full European descent. There were approximately 20,000 whites around the Haitian Revolution, mainly French, in Saint-Domingue. They were divided into two main groups: The Planters and Petit Blancs. The first Europeans to settle in Haiti were the Spanish. The Spanish enslaved the indigenous Haitians to work on sugar plantations and in gold mines. European diseases such as measles and smallpox killed all but a few thousand of the indigenous Haitians. Many other indigenous Haitians died from overwork and harsh treatment in the mines from slavery. Most Europeans who settled in Haiti were killed or fled during the Haitian Revolution.
Sebastián Lemba was an early Dominican slave rebel leader who led a prolonged maroon rebellion in the colony of Santo Domingo,. He is remembered as a significant figure in Dominican history, as that his actions paved the way for the eventual liberation of the Dominicans from their Spanish oppressors.
The 1521 Santo Domingo Slave Revolt in the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola took place around the time of Christmas festivities in 1521. It is the earliest recorded slave rebellion in the Americas. Just days after the rebellion, the colonial authorities introduced a set of laws to prevent another uprising. These are thought to be the earliest surviving laws created to control enslaved Africans in the New World.
Santiago Basora was a Dominican revolutionary who was a leader in the Dominican War of Independence. Basora, a former slave himself, was determined that the new independent government would uphold its promise that slavery would never return to the Dominican Republic. He a revolt in Monte Grande before being confronted by independence leaders Tomás Bobadilla and Manuel Jimenes, who ensured him that slavery was forever abolished.
The 1812 Mendoza and Mojarra Conspiracy was a slave movement that transpired during In Santo Domingo, in the heat of the proclamation of the Cadiz Constitution, in 1812. This movement, led by free blacks, sought to overthrow the colonial government in Santo Domingo, with the intention of merging Santo Domingo with neighboring Haiti.
