History Of The Dominican Republic

By Author: Jesse Henson
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The Dominican Republic and its people depend highly on agriculture for their livelihood. They owe most of their development as a country to tourism and free trade. Trading clothes, cigars, coffee, flowers, sugar and vegetables are some of the commercial activities that the people are accustomed to. Some of the major trade items include petroleum, wood, industrial raw materials, food products and pharmaceuticals.

Africans and mixed Europeans were some of the very first inhabitants of the Dominican Republic. Many of the people practice Catholicism and have a very rich tradition of art and culture that they are very proud of. They have always promoted art, music and crafts into their livelihood. They celebrate jazz and local folk music in a special festival every year.

The Dominican Republic is the earliest of all the European colonies in the Western Hemisphere. Columbus established the settlement on the island of Santo Domingo in 1496. It became the main base for Spanish activities until the conquest of Mexico occurred. The Spanish lost to the French in 1664 and the latter took over the Western half of the island ...
... which is now known as Haiti. Toussaint L'Ouverture liberated the island in the 1790s; he was then rapidly followed by many others in the rule of Haiti. The most highly praised ruler of the island was Boyer. During his presidency, he united the two halves of the island together, although not permanently.

Boyer was able to maintain a degree of stability for the region. In the mid-1820s, he invaded and conquered the eastern half of the island of Santo Domingo. In 1821, the inhabitants rose in the rebellion against Spain. Boyer then began his rule over French-speaking Haiti and ruled Santo Domingo as a conquered province. Boyer's rule was overthrown during the revolution in 1843. The upheaval of the revolution caused a good turning point for the eastern half of the island, when it finally claimed its independence from Haiti and became known as the Dominican Republic.

After a time, rulers of the Dominican Republic thought that the independence they so longed for was a foolhardy step, mainly due to the fear that another larger and much stronger invasion might occur from their neighbor, Haiti. From 1861 to 1865, the nation voluntarily returned to the status of a Spanish colony. During the early 20th century, there was a bit of danger in the cards for the Dominican Republic, due to European nations forcibly intervening in order to collect past due debts from the country. For a period of time, U.S. rule was forced upon the Republic. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson sent the Marines to the Republic during economic chaos and civil war, and the American military lasted there for eight years. The U.S. occupied the country between 1916 and 1924. Between 1930 and 1961, a dictator by the name of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina took over rule of the country until his assassination.

Attempts at Democracy
After the assassination of Trujillo, there were many attempts to establish democracy. The frustration of coups, civil war and the renewal of American military aid did not make it any easier. In, 1966, Balaguer was elected president of the Republic and remained in office until 1978, when he lost the election to Antonio Guzman. Guzman did not stay long in office and lost his election to Salvador Blanco in 1982. However, in 1986 the aging and almost blind Balaguer was once again elected president. In 1994, the allegations of fraud in the election of Balaguer led to a new election in 1996, when Balaguer was barred. When he departed, he took the last link of the Trujillo era with him.

The Dominican Republic has had a rocky past and its history has been shady to say the least. Today, they have gained their diplomatic standing and are proud to call their country home.
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