Historical Study of the Dominican Republic

I know very little history of the Caribbean Islands, other than it's exploration by the European Conquistadors. Of course I enjoyed the movie series of Pirates of the Caribbean, yet this is a fictional account of captain Jack Sparrow's adventures around the islands. It was only a few years ago I made me first academic dive on this region after playing the video game Assassins' Creed 4: Black Flag. The game was set in the early 1700s during the Golden Age of Piracy. The map consisted of Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamas with port cities of Nassau, Kingston, and Havana. I was very inspired by the historical context and made several posts regarding The Golden Age of Piracy and the Age of Exploration. However both these posts were probably more so from a European perspective driving the change, rather than the local indigenous perspective. 

This recent fascination is of course brought on from my trip to the Dominican Republic. I can honestly say I was never really drawn to Dominican (or even Caribbean culture) and hardly had it on my bucket list other than maybe a tropical getaway. It was my mom's idea to visit this Latin country fluent in Spanish. After a week at the Punta Cana resort and a visit to Santo Domingo I left the island so inspired by it's history. I came to the understanding that the Dominican Republic was the headquarters of the age of exploration. Santo Domingo became the staging ground for European trade, civilization, and further exploration into Central and South America. 

Before I move my focus entirely on the Dominican Republic, I'd like to briefly touch upon the full map of the Caribbean Islands. There's about 6 main islands and the rest are much smaller reefs part of the Lesser Antilles. This main islands include Cuba, Bahamas, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Hispaniola (which consists of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Other smaller islands consist of Antigua, Cayman Islands, Aruba, and Barbados to name a few. Each of these islands were settled by one of the European nations during the Age of Exploration. Jamaica and Bahamas were settled by the English dominion, Haiti was settled by the French, and the Spanish settled Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Over time these indigenous people were assimilated to speak the language, practice the Christian religion, and take on the customs of the Europeans. But who were they before the conquest?

The Taino

Similar to the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas the Caribbean Islands were also inhabited by an indigenous people. They were known as the Taino, an off branch of the Arawak people that had migrated from the Amazons of northern South America. These people spread across the main islands of the Caribbean all with different branches and leadership. Their chiefs were known as caciques and their word was law over the society. Below them were the nobles (known as nitainos) and the common folk (known as naborias). Like most indigenous tribes they also had their spiritual healers known as Bohiques. 

The Taino tribes lived in settlements throughout the islands known as yucayeques. The largest of these tribes were based in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Some of their larger buildings were known as bohios and could house10 to 15 families in them. Most the men and women were naked until marriage at which point they would wear aprons and jewelry. Their most popular sport was batey, juggling a ball in the air with players, in a round court made of stones. While they were mostly a peaceful people they often wore war paint on their face and their weapon of choice was the war club known as macanas. Some of the most famous words to come from the Taino are hammock, canoe, barbecue, savanna, and hurricane. 

The ancient religion of the Taino was worshiping their deities known as the Zemi. This was practiced thru sculptural objects often made of wood depicting monstrous/ other-worldly creatures. The spirit of the Zemi dwelled in these sculptures and served as powerful totems. Their creator god was known as Yucahu who governs the land and food while his wife Attabeira governs the waters, river, and sea. Some of the sub deities pertain to the weather, much necessary for growing crops in those days such as the rain god known as Boinayel. Even famous Taino caciques and warriors took on the role of spiritiual Zemi's after their death. The Zemi relics were often housed in shrines and very important part of the bohiques spiritual healing practices. 

Arrival of Christopher Columbus

On his first voyage in 1492 Christopher Columbus first arrived to San Salvador, Bahamas, then journeyed along the eastern coast of Cuba, and to the northern coast of Hispanoila before returning to Europe. During his visits to the mainland he encountered the local tribes of Taino, Lucayan, and Arawek people. He quickly noticed they possessed primitive weapons and would be easy to conquer, and thus took some as prisoners to help guide him along the islands. On Christmas Day in western Hispaniola (present day Haiti) Columbus established the settlement of La Navidad and left 39 of his men with the locals. The fort was later destroyed by the local Taino. Columbus continued exploring the coastline of eastern Hispaniola then returned to Europe. 

On Columbus' second voyage in 1493 he first explored the islands of the Lesser Antilles, then discovered Puerto Rico, explored the western coast of Cuba, and completely encircled the Hispaniola island. He founded the city of La Isabela, named after Queen Isabelle of Spain, located on the northeastern coast of Hispaniola, which became the new European stronghold replacing La Navidad. However this city underwent disease and hunger and quickly collapsed a couple years later. The settlement of Santo Domingo was later established in 1496 in the southeastern coast, by Christopher's brother Bartholomew Columbus. This replaced La Isabela as the new central hub for European settlement in the New World. To this day it stands as the oldest European settlements in the Americas.

European Settlement

Following Columbus' discovery of the New World more and more European explorers began arriving to conquer the land full of wealth. Santo Domingo became the main governing colony of the Spanish Empire. The primitive Tainos were easily subdued into slavery mining for gold for the Europeans. During the 1500-1530s they were quickly eliminated due to disease, harsh labor, and mass executions by the conquistadors. The local native slaves were later replaced by African slaves to work the fields of sugar cane. Many of these African slaves escaped outside the city to live freely in the rural mountain ranges of Hispaniola. They became known as cimarrons, "wild animals". Throughout the 1520-1540s Santo Domingo became assaulted by numerous slave uprisings and pirate attacks. By 1560 Santo Domingo had lost it's central trading hub to the rising influence of Havana in Cuba.

Soon after Mexico, Central America, and South America became more sought after by the European explorers seeking to cash in on the undiscovered wealth. The island of Hispaniola quickly became one of anarchy, piracy, and poverty. In 1586 the city of Santo Domingo was captured by the British pirate Sir Francis Drake of England who collected a ransom from Spain. Even more damaging to the Spanish colony was increasing trade with their enemy the Dutch. By the 1600s the Spanish Empire put stricter regulations on Santo Domingo to root out the contraband and piracy that was occurring throughout the island. This inquest referred to as the Devastations of Osorios led to much death and ruin throughout the southeastern region of Hispaniola. 

By 1629 French pirates began settling in present day Haiti, particularly the island of Tortuga. Ten years later the French made the island it's colony and began settling further into the western region of Hispaniola. By 1697 at the end of the Nine Years War, Spain handed over the western region of the island to French control in the Treaty of Ryswick. This thus became a new colony of France, present day Haiti, separate from the Spanish colony of Hispaniola. Spain continued to defend numerous assaults on their capital of Santo Domingo from Oliver Cromwell in 1655 and many pirate raids throughout the early 1700s. The conflict over territory in the Caribbean between Spain and England reached a boiling point at the War of Jenkins Ear from 1739-1748. This naval conflict took place in many Caribbean locations and islands, however no major change come of it.

During the 1800s at the onset of Napoleon's mighty French Empire, the Haitian general Toussaint Louverture began the Haitian Revolution. Napoleon sent a fleet to not only quell the Haitian island but also conquer Santo Domingo. The Haitian rebel army under the leadership of Toussaint were able to acheive their independence in 1804 which drove the French army to the eastern region of Hispaniola. They remained there holding influence over Santo Domingo until 1809 when they were driven out by the Spanish armies. This brought upon the final age of Spanish colonization in Santo Domingo known as their foolish dominion. The government quickly lost it's influence to the local inhabitants that were now a mix of Taino, former black slaves, and Spanish settlers. It was only a matter of time until Santo Domingo followed the example of the other ongoing revolutions of the United States, Mexico, and  Simon Bolivar in South America. 

War of Independence

The fervor of independence was spreading all throughout the Americas during the late 1700s early 1800s (and even France). This included the Caribbean islands where Haiti became the first to be recognized as an independent nation free from France in 1804. The Spanish colony of Santo Domingo began it's movement for independence shortly after this. Under the leadership of Jose Nunez de Caceres their first independence was achieved with the establishment of the Republic of Spanish Haiti in 1821. Knowing that Spain and Haiti still posed a threat however they attempted to align themselves with the newly established Gran Colombia. However it was too little too late, and the Republic of Spanish Haiti was short-lived for no more than year and conquered by Haiti in 1822. This lead to a brutal 20 year period of persecution and forced assimilation into Haitian policy and customs. 

In 1838 a new independence movement arose from the underground led by Juan Pablo Duarte known as La Trinitaria. Backed by wealthy ranchers, they coordinated their declaration of independence at the same time that Haiti was going thru a contentious presidential election in 1844. The land of Santo Domingo was now known as the Dominican Republic. The Haitian president responded shortly by sending an army of 40,000 to restore authority, however they were repelled by the Dominican militia. Several more attempts were made by the Haitian government to restore it's territory but all attempts were defended by the newly established Dominican Republic. 

The First Republic lasted from 1844 until 1861 when it was once again occupied by Spanish Imperial forces. This lead to the National War of Restoration in 1863 which essentially became a guerilla war against the Spanish army. The occupancy quickly became unpopular throughout Spain, due to their withering funds and the rising concerns of yellow fever in the region. By 1865 they completely withdrew their forces and the Dominican Republic was restored. This time it lasted until 1916 during WWI when the United States occupied the island in fears that Germany would take it. In 1924 the US withdrew their occupancy and authority was restored to the Dominican Republic for a third time.

From 1931 to 1961 President Rafael Trujillo established a strong political and economic system. Although he had a similar authoritarian personality as Francis Franco or even Hitler, he chose to welcome Spanish refugees and Jews fleeing Europe. He even sided with the Allies when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. Although he was able to boost the Dominican economy and infrastructure he made many political enemies including with the United States and was eventually assassinated. Following his death there was a period of instability and a civil war that broke out in 1965. By 1966 the Civil war came to an end and order was once again restored in the nation. A fourth republic was established with the election of Joaquin Balaguer in 1966 which still exists today.