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| Established | 2004 |
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| Location | Santiago, Dominican Republic |
| Coordinates | 19°26′54″N70°42′10″W / 19.448247°N 70.70282°W |
| Type | History museum |
Fortaleza San Luis is located near the Yaque del Norte River in southwest Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. The Fort was the location of several battles during the War of Restoration. Fortaleza San Luis has also served as a Municipal Prison and more recently the fort has been converted into a Museum.
The fort, throughout its history has been vital to the protection and control of the Dominican Republic's second city, Santiago, and by extension the entire Cibao Valley region. After Independence from Haiti and fearing a repeat invasion by Haiti, then president Pedro Santana requested the re-annexation of the Dominican Republic to Spain in March 1861. As such, Spain sent 4 infantries under the command of Colonel Ramon de Portal y Santo Domingo to occupy the fort. Santana's decision was not popular amongst a Nationalist movement and the War of Restauration ensued. Dominican forces repealed the Spanish and by September 1863 the fort was recaptured by Dominican forces. After the restoration of the Republic, the fort was converted into a military school, which in 1875, graduated its first class of Cadets from Officers Training in the Yaque Battalion. [1]
In 1881, the fort added a new garrison next to the armory and in 1884, a Military Hospital was added to the fort. In 1886, President Ulises Heureaux gave as a gift to Santiago de los Caballeros a clock tower that was installed in the Fortaleza San Luis.
During the 1916 United States occupation of the Dominican Republic 1,500 4th Marines held the Fortaleza San Luis. [2] Latter in 1924, after achieving the political goals of "stabilization" the 4th Marines would leave the fort.
Prisioneros Notables
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In 2004, the fort was renovated and converted into a museum. The project was funded by the government, the private sector and by philanthropist. The first-phase of the project came at a cost of $83,966.00RD pesos. [1]
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.
The Dominican Republic is a country in the West Indies that occupies the eastern five-eighths of Hispaniola. It has an area of 48,670 km2, including offshore islands. The land border shared with Haiti, which occupies the western three-eighths of the island, is 376 km long. The maximum length, east to west, is 390 km from Punta de Agua to Las Lajas, on the border with Haiti. The maximum width, north to south, is 265 km from Cape Isabela to Cape Beata. The capital, Santo Domingo, is located on the south coast.
Elías Piña is one of the 32 provinces of the Dominican Republic, located in the westernmost part of the country, along the border with Haiti. It is divided into 6 municipalities and its capital city is Comendador. The Cordillera Central is found in the northern part of the province, and the Sierra de Neiba runs across the southern half. Between those two mountain ranges, there are several valleys formed by the Artibonite River and its tributaries.
Santiago is a province which currently comprises one of the 32 provinces of the Dominican Republic. It is divided into 10 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de los Caballeros. Located in north-central Dominican Republic, in the Cibao region, it is bordered by the provinces of Valverde to the north-west, Puerto Plata to the north, Espaillat and La Vega to the east, San Juan to the south and Santiago Rodríguez to the west.
Valverde is a province of the Dominican Republic. It was split from Santiago Province in 1959. It is in the northwestern part of the country. Its capital city is Santa Cruz de Mao.
Santiago de los Caballeros, often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of Santiago Province and the largest major metropolis in the Cibao region of the country. Santiago is the largest Caribbean city that is not a capital city, and it is also the largest non-coastal metropolis in the Caribbean islands. The city has a total population of 771,748 inhabitants (2022). Santiago is located approximately 155 km (96 mi) northwest of the capital Santo Domingo with an average altitude of 178 m (584 ft).
Pedro Santana y Familias, 1st Marquess of Las Carreras was a Dominican military commander and royalist politician who served as the president of the junta that had established the First Dominican Republic, a precursor to the position of the President of the Dominican Republic, and as the first President of the republic in the modern line of succession. A traditional royalist who was fond of the Monarchy of Spain and the Spanish Empire, he ruled as a governor-general, but effectively as an authoritarian dictator. During his life he enjoyed the title of "Libertador de la Patria."
Matías Ramón Mella Castillo, who was most known by his middle name (Ramón), was a Dominican revolutionary, politician, and military general. Mella is regarded as a national hero in the Dominican Republic. He is a hero of two glorious deeds in Dominican history: the proclamation of the First Republic, and the war to restore Dominican independence. Remembered as one of the three founding fathers of the Dominican Republic, the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella is partially named in his honor.
The first United States occupation of the Dominican Republic lasted from 1916 to 1924. It aimed to force the Dominicans to repay their large debts to European creditors, whose governments threatened military intervention. On May 13, 1916, Rear Admiral William B. Caperton forced the Dominican Republic's Secretary of War Desiderio Arias, who had seized power from President Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra, to leave Santo Domingo by threatening the city with naval bombardment. The Marines landed three days later and established effective control of the country within two months. Three major roads were built, largely for military purposes, connecting for the first time the capital with Santiago in the Cibao, Azua in the west, and San Pedro de Macorís in the east; and the system of forced labor used by the Americans in Haiti was absent in the Dominican Republic.
The Yaque Del Norte River is the longest river in the Dominican Republic, as well as the second longest river on Hispaniola, behind the Artibonite River. It is 296 km long and flows northwest into the Atlantic Ocean.
DR-1 is a dual carriageway highway that forms part of the five designated national highways of the Dominican Republic. DR-1 provides a fast connection between Santo Domingo, the capital, on the southern coast, and the second city Santiago and the rest of the northerly Cibao region, one of the country's main regions.
The Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración is a monument in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic. It is the highest building in Santiago, and a major tourist attraction for the area. The monument is located on a hill in the middle of Santiago, with views of the city and surrounding mountains. It also has a surrounding park.
The Dominican Restoration War or the Dominican War of Restoration was a guerrilla war between 1863 and 1865 in the Dominican Republic between nationalists and Spain, the latter of which had recolonized the country 17 years after its independence. The war resulted in the restoration of Dominican sovereignty, the withdrawal of Spanish forces, the separation of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo from Spain, and the establishment of a second republic in the Dominican Republic.
Baitoa is a municipality in the Santiago Province of the Dominican Republic. Santiago is part of the northern valley of the country, otherwise known as the Cibao. Baitoa is named after a native tree, also known as St. Domingo Boxwood. Baitoa was formerly known as Sabana de los Burros. The population speaks a Cibao dialect of Dominican Spanish.
The Reintegration of Santo Domingo was a brief period of Spanish reintegration of the Dominican Republic. In 1861, Dominican general Pedro Santana suggested retaking control of the Dominican Republic to Queen Isabella II of Spain, after a period of 17 years of Dominican sovereignty. The newly independent Dominican Republic was recovering economically from the recently ended Dominican War of Independence (1844–1856), when the Dominican Republic had won its independence against Haiti. The Spanish Crown and authorities, which scorned and rejected the peace treaties signed after the dismantling of some of its colonies in the Spanish West Indies some 50 years prior, welcomed his proposal and set to reestablish the Capitancy.
José Desiderio Valverde Pérez was a Dominican military figure and politician. He served as the 7th president of the Dominican Republic from June 13, 1858 until August 31, 1858.
Pedro Antonio Pimentel y Chamorro (1830–1874) was a Dominican Republic military figure and politician. He served as the 9th president of the Dominican Republic from March 25, 1865 until August 4, of that year. He also served as governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, Minister of War, and as a deputy of the Congress of the Dominican Republic. He was born to father Jacinto Pimentel and mother Juana Chamorro. He died sick and without any money in Quartier-Morin, Haiti in 1874.
The Fortaleza San Felipe is a historic Spanish fortress located in the north of the Dominican Republic in the province of Puerto Plata. Also known as El Morro de San Felipe, it was used to protect the City of Puerto Plata from foreign invaders, pirates, and privateers. It is located on a hill at the Puntilla del Malecón, overlooking the entrance to the city's seaport.
Santiago Rodríguez Masagó, also known as Santiago Rodríguez, nicknamed "Chago" was a Dominican military leader. Little is known of his birth but sources suggest that he was either born in Cap-Haïtien or the area of Fort-Liberté. He is known for having opposed the annexation of the Dominican Republic to Spain and then having fought the Spanish Crown; and for being one of the rebels of the famous El Grito de Capotillo that began the Dominican Restoration War with General Gregorio Luperón.
Fernando Valerio Gil was an agriculturalist and soldier from the Dominican Republic. He is considered a hero of the battles of Santiago —together with José María Imbert—, and Sabana Larga —together with Juan Luis Franco Bidó—. He was commander in chief of the northern border.
19°26′53.6886″N70°42′10.15″W / 19.448246833°N 70.7028194°W