Dominican Republic History

Source:Wikipedia/GNU Dominican Republic History

Early Dominican Republic History Facts.Guarding the remains of Christopher Columbus.

The island of Hispaniola, of which the Dominican Republic forms the eastern two-thirds and Haiti the remainder, was originally occupied by Taínos, an Arawak-speaking people who called the island Quisqueya (or Kiskeya).

The Taínos welcomed Christopher Columbus when he first arrived on December 5, 1492 and on his second voyage in 1493 when he founded the first Spanish colony in the New World.

Repression and disease reduced the Taíno population from about 1 million to about 500 in 50 years.


1600-1929 Dominican Republic History  



The French held on in the eastern part of the island, until defeated by the Spanish inhabitants at the battle of Palo Hincado on November 7, 1808 and the final capitulation of the besieged Santo Domingo on July 9, 1809, with help from the Royal Navy.

 First Cathedral of the Americas

Declaration of Independence

The Spanish authorities showed little interest in their restored colony, and the following period is recalled as La España Boba –'The Era of Foolish Spain'. 

In 1821 the Spanish settlers declared an independent state, but Haitian forces occupied the whole island just 9 weeks later and held it for 22 years.

Dominican Republic history First Constitution

Once more Dominican Republic history was made; on February 27, 1844, independence was declared from the Haitians.

This was the culmination of a movement led by Juan Pablo Duarte, then in exile, the hero of Dominican independence, and one of thefounding fathers.

The military forces that drove the occupiers out were led by Pedro Santana.


It adopted a presidential form of government with many liberal tendencies, but it was marred by Article 210, imposed by Pedro Santana on the constitutional assembly by force, which gave him the privileges of a dictatorship until the war of independence was over.

These privileges not only served him to win the war, but also allowed him to persecute, execute and drive into exile his political opponents, among which Duarte was the most important.

Dominican Republic History

In 1861, during one of his presidencies, Santana restored the Dominican Republic to Spain.

This move was widely rejected and on August 16, 1863, a national war of "restoration" began. In 1865, independence from Spain was restored after four years of colonial reannexation.



The occupation ended in 1924, with a democratically elected Dominican government under president Horacio Vasquez (1924 - 1930).

1930 to 1980 Dominican Republic history

In 1930,Rafael Trujillo, a prominent army commander, ousted president Horacio Vasquez and established absolute political control.

Trujillo promoted economic development from which mainly he and his supporters benefitted and the result was severe repression of domestic human rights. Mismanagement and corruption resulted in major economic problems.

During the European holocaust in the Second World War, the Dominican Republic took in many Jews fleeing Hitler who had been refused entry by other countries.

In August 1960, the Organization of American States (OAS)imposed diplomatic sanctions against the Dominican Republic as a result of Trujillo's complicity in an attempt to assassinate President Rómulo Betancourt of Venezuela.

Sanctions Dominican Republic history

These sanctions remained in force after Trujillo's assassination in May 1961. In November 1961, the Trujillo family was forced into exile, fleeing to France.

In January 1962, a council of state with legislative and executive powers was formed; it included moderate members of the opposition.

OAS sanctions were lifted January 4, and, after the resignation of President Joaquín Balaguer on January 16, the council under President Rafael Bonnelly headed the Dominican government.

In 1963, Juan Bosch of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (Dominican Revolutionary Party, or PRD) was inaugurated President, only to be overthrown by a right-wing military coup in September 1963.

After Bosch's overthrow a supposedly civilian triumvirate established a de facto dictatorship until April 24 1965, when another military coup led to violence between military elements favoring the return to government by Bosch and those who proposed a military junta committed to early general elections.

On April 28, after being requested by the anti-Bosch army elements, U.S. military forces landed, officially to protect U.S. citizens and to evacuate U.S. and other foreign nationals.

Additional U.S. forces subsequently imposed political stability on the country.

President Balaguer / Dominican Republic history

In June 1966, President Balaguer, leader of the Reformist Party (now called the Social Christian Reformist Party--PRSC), was elected and then re-elected to office in May 1970 and May 1974, both times after the major opposition parties withdrew late in the campaign because of the high degree of violence by pro-government groups.

Balaguer led the Domincan Republic through a thorough economic restructuring, based on opening the country to foreign invsetment while protecting state-owned industries and certain private interests.

This distorted, dependent development model produced uneven results. For most of Balaguer's nine years in office the country experianced high growth rates (e.g., an average GDP growth rate of 9.4 percent between 1970 - 1975), to the extent that people talked about the "Dominican miracle."

Foreign - mostly U.S. - investment, as well as foreign aid, flowed into the country and sugar (then the country's main export product) also enjoyed good prices in the international market.

However, this excellent macroeconomic performance was not accompanied by an equitable distribution of wealth. While a group of new millionaires flourished during Balaguer's administrations, the poor simply became poorer.

Morever, the poor were commonly the target of state repression, and their socioeconomic claims were labeled "communist" and dealt with appropriately by the state security apparatus.

Dominican history was made in the May 1978 election, Balaguer was defeated in his bid for a fourth successive term by Antonio Guzmán Fernández of the PRD.


Continue Dominican Republic history.

1980 - Present Dominican Republic history

Bustling streets of the capital today.


In an attempt to cure the ailing economy, the Jorge Blanco administration began to implement economic adjustment and recovery policies, including an austerity program in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In April 1984, rising prices of basic foodstuffs and uncertainty about austerity measures led to riots in which an estimated one hundred people were killed by the government's troops.

Guarding the remains of the founding fathers.



Nonetheless, by 1988, the country slid into a 2-year economic depression, characterized by high inflation (59.5 percent in 1989) and currency devaluation.

Economic difficulties, coupled with problems in the delivery of basic services--including electricity, water, and transportation--generated popular discontent that resulted in frequent protests, occasionally violent, including a paralyzing nationwide strike in June 1989.

In 1990, Balaguer instituted a second set of economic reforms. After concluding an IMF agreement, balancing the budget,and curtailing inflation, the Dominican Republic was experiencing a period of economic growth marked by moderate inflation, a balance in external accounts, and a steadily increasing GDP.


The elections of 1994 were again marred by charges of fraud, this time amid documented charges from the Partido de la Liberacion Dominicana (Dominican Liberation Party, or PLD) that as many as 200,000 of its sympathizers had been disenfranchised and prevented from voting.


(PLD) Leonel Fernandez Reyna

With Balaguer prevented from running, the June 1996 presidential election was won by Leonel Fernández Reyna of the PLD.

In May 2000 the PRD's Hipólito Mejía was elected to a 4-year term as president. In May 2004, Leonel Fernández Reyna was again elected to a 4-year term as president and inaugurated on August 16, 2004.

The Dominican Republic was involved in the US led coalition in Iraq, but in 2004, the nation pulled its troops out of Iraq.

Dominican Republic history

