The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with Haiti, making Hispaniola one of only two Caribbean islands, along with Saint Martin, that is shared by two sovereign states. The Dominican Republic is the second-largest nation in the Antilles by area at 48,671 square kilometers (18,792 sq mi), and third-largest by population, with approximately 10.7 million people, down from 10.8 million in 2020, of whom approximately 3.3 million live in the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, the capital city. The official language of the country is Spanish.
The recorded history of the Dominican Republic began in 1492 when the Genoa-born navigator Christopher Columbus, working for the Crown of Castile, happened upon a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. It was inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawakan people, who called the eastern part of the island Quisqueya (Kiskeya), meaning "mother of all lands." Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, naming it La Isla Española, later Latinized to Hispaniola. After 25 years of Spanish occupation, the Taíno population in the Spanish-dominated parts of the island drastically decreased through genocide. With fewer than 50,000 remaining, the survivors intermixed with Spaniards, Africans, and others, forming the present-day tripartite Dominican population. What would become the Dominican Republic was the Spanish Captaincy General of Santo Domingo until 1821, except for a time as a French colony from 1795 to 1809. It was then part of a unified Hispaniola with Haiti from 1822 until 1844. In 1844, Dominican independence was proclaimed and the republic, which was often known as Santo Domingo until the early 20th century, maintained its independence except for a short Spanish occupation from 1861 to 1865 and occupation by the United States from 1916 to 1924.
Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo was a Dominican politician, scholar, writer, and lawyer. He was President of the Dominican Republic serving three non-consecutive terms for that office from 1960 to 1962, 1966 to 1978, and 1986 to 1996.
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, nicknamed El Jefe, was a Dominican dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He served as president from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952, ruling for the rest of the time as an unelected military strongman under figurehead presidents. His rule of 31 years, known to Dominicans as the Trujillo Era, is considered one of the bloodiest and most corrupt regimes in the Western hemisphere, and centered around a personality cult of the ruling family. Trujillo's security forces, including the infamous SIM, were responsible for perhaps as many as 50,000 murders, including between 12,000 and 30,000 Haitians in the infamous Parsley massacre in 1937, which continues to affect Dominican-Haitian relations to this day.
Juan Emilio Bosch Gaviño was a Dominican politician, historian, writer, essayist, educator, and the first democratically elected president of the Dominican Republic for a brief time in 1963. Previously, he had been the leader of the Dominican opposition in exile to the dictatorial regime of Rafael Trujillo for over 25 years. To this day, he is remembered as an honest politician and regarded as one of the most prominent writers in Dominican literature. He founded both the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) in 1939 and the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in 1973.
The Feast of the Goat is a novel by the Peruvian Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. The book is set in the Dominican Republic and portrays the assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, and its aftermath, from two distinct standpoints a generation apart: during and immediately after the assassination itself, in May 1961; and thirty-five years later, in 1996. Throughout, there is also extensive reflection on the heyday of the dictatorship, in the 1950s, and its significance for the island and its inhabitants.
The Dominican Liberation Party is a political party in the Dominican Republic. Founded in 1973 by former president Juan Bosch, the party, along with the Dominican Revolutionary Party, and Social Christian Reformist Party, has dominated politics in the country since the establishment of democracy in the early 1960s.
Amado García Guerrero was one of the conspirators against, and killers of, Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo.
The Dominican honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement or service to the Dominican Republic. The system consists of two types of awards: decorations and medals.
Héctor Bienvenido "Negro" Trujillo Molina was a Dominican general and political figure who was the President of the Dominican Republic between 1952 and 1960. He was the brother of former president and dictator Rafael Trujillo.
Manuel de Jesús María Ulpiano Troncoso de la Concha was an intellectual and President of the Dominican Republic from 1940 until 1942. Prior to ascending to the Presidency, he was Vice-President from 1938 to 1940. His term began upon the death of President Jacinto Peynado. He also served in 1911 during the reign of the Council of Secretaries.
Jacinto Bienvenido Peynado Peynado was the president of the Dominican Republic from August 16, 1938, until February 24, 1940, during the Trujillo era. During his 31-year regime, dictator Rafael Trujillo appointed four individuals to serve as ceremonial presidents while retaining direct, behind-the-scenes control of the executive branch. Prior to ascending to the presidency, Peynado served as Trujillo's vice president from 1934 to 1938.
Juan Rafael Estrella Ureña was a Dominican politician and lawyer. He served as the last acting president of the Dominican Republic from March 3, 1930, until August 16, 1930, when he started to serve as the vice president under Rafael Leónidas Trujillo.
Dominican Republic–Mexico relations are the diplomatic relations between the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Both nations have over the years joined several multilateral forums and are members of the Association of Caribbean States, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States and the United Nations.
Luis José Ramfis Rafael Domínguez-Trujillo, also known as Ramfis Domínguez-Trujillo is an Dominican politician.
Rafael Ángel Brache Ramírez was a politician, civil servant, and diplomat from the Dominican Republic. His career in national politics spanned from 1914 to 1935, after which he spent much of his life in exile.
Isabel Mayer (1885-1961) was a Dominican feminist, politician and socialite from the province of Monte Cristi in the Northwest of the Dominican Republic. She was a member of the feminist group Acción Feminista Dominicana (AFD) that helped secure suffrage for women in the Dominican Republic in 1942 under dictator Rafael Trujillo. She served as a senator from her home province from 1942-1944 and also as governor of both Monte Cristi and Santiago. A number of foreign journalists referred to her as a celestina, or madam, for Trujillo during the regime.
The Mingorrubio Cemetery, also called the Cemetery of El Pardo, is a municipal cemetery on the edge of Madrid, Spain. Mingorrubio is a neighborhood in the northern district of Fuencarral-El Pardo.
Milady Félix de L'Official (1906–2001) was a Dominican Republic lawyer, writer, politician and diplomat. In 1942 she was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, becoming one of the first group of Dominican Congresswomen.
Démosthènes Pétrus Calixte was a Haitian conservative noirist politician and military figure who led the Garde d'Haïti. In 1937, Calixte became involved in political chaos, where officers within the Garde tried to overthrow president Sténio Vincent and replace him with Calixte. This led to the replacement of Calixte, who fled to the Dominican Republic. Upon his return in the 1940s, Calixte was made a presidential candidate by the Mouvement Ouvriers et Paysans in 1946. However, he lost the election to Dumarsais Estimé.
