DR's History

[El Vegano]

I wonder how many of the DR1 members and readers know Dominican history.
Not finding a section for that, I am taking the liberty of starting this history thread. Please bear with me since I suspect most of those that have visited, are visiting and will visit have very little knowledge of our past beginning with Columbus's arrival. The following information may enhance their knowledge a bit.

15th AND 16th CENTURIES-

April, 1492- Columbus's conditions are accepted by King Fernando and Queen Isabel. He is given the titles of Viceroy, Admiral and Governor of the lands to be discovered as well as 10% of the wealth obtained.

August, 1492- Columbus leaves the port of Palos, Spain in three ships, Santa Maria, La Pinta and La Niña.

December 5- Columbus expedition arrives and names the island 'La Española'.

December 12- First settlement called La Concepcion is established.

December 25- The Santa Maria sinks in the north coast and the remains are
used to build Fuerte Navidad (Fort Christmas).

January 4, 1493- Columbus leaves for Spain arriving in Palos on March 15th.

April 24, 1493- La Isabela is settled near what is now Puerto Plata in the north coast.

November 2, 1493- Columbus arrives back on his second trip heading 1,500 persons in 17 ships to begin the conquest of the indies and the Americas.

January 6, 1494- Father Boil officiates the first mass in the New World in an improvised chapel.

1494- Concepcion de La Vega is founded.

March 13, 1494- Columbus opens the first road in the New World called Paseo de los Hidalgos.

March, 1494- Construction of the Fort of Santo Tomas is begun by the Janico River in what is now Santiago province.

September, 1494- Columbus explores the southern coast of Cuba and discovers Jamaica.

March 10, 1496- Columbus returns to Spain

1496- Bartomole Colon (Cristobal's brother) settles Nueva Isabela on the eastern side of the Ozama River

1498- Nueva Isabela is devastated by hurricane, earthquake and plagues so
Santo Domingo de Guzman is settled on the western side of the Ozama River.

1501- The Spanish crown declares that natives should not be mistreated.

- Rodrigo de Bastidas (lived in the house next to the fort in the Colonial
Zone which is now a children's museum) explores the coast of what is
now Venezuela.

1502- Nicolas de Ovando, new governor of Hispaniola and Bartolome de las Casas, defender of the natives and 'cronista de Indias' (chronicler of the indies) arrive.

- Fourth and final trip by Columbus takes place.

1503- San Nicolas de Bari, first hospital in the New World, is begun in Santo Domingo.

November 26, 1504- Queen Isabela of Spain dies.

1505- Fortaleza Ozama (first military fort in the New World) is begun and finished in 1507. Also the first stone street, Calle Las Damas, and the first stone houses including the Hernan Cortez house, future conqueror of Mexico
(presently the embassy of France).

- First African slaves are brought to Hispaniola for hard labor after decimating the native population.

1506- Columbus dies in Valladolid, Spain.

1508- A census shows there are only 60,000 natives left of the estimated
400,000 which existed in 1492.

1509- Diego Colon (the Admiral's son) becomes Viceroy and Governor.

1510- Construction of the Alcazar (palace) is begun and finished in 1512.

December, 1511- Fray Anton de Montesinos cries out his famous sermon in defense of the natives (large statue presently in the seashore near the port is in honor to him).

1513- Hispaniola resident Juan Ponce de Leon discovers the Florida peninsula.

1516- King Fernando dies. Prince Carlos is a minor so Cardinal Cisneros becomes Regent of Spain.

1517- The native population is down to 11,000.

1518- After a measles outbreak the native population is down to 3,000.

1519- Native rebellion begins, led by Enriquillo.

1520- Alejandro Geraldini becomes first bishop of Santo Domingo.

1523- Construction of the Metropolitan Cathedral is begun in Santo Domingo.

1526- Diego Colon dies.

1533- Enriquillo's rebellion comes to an end.

1537- French corsairs attack and burn the village of Azua.

1538- First university of the New World is founded; Santo Tomas de Aquino.

1540- Luis Colon, the admiral's grandson, becomes Governor of Hispaniola.

1541- Construction of the city walls are begun in Santo Domingo to protect it from pirates and corsairs.

1562- Corsair John Hawkins sells shipload of slaves in Puerto Plata.

- Earthquake destroys La Vega (partial ruins still exist a few miles west of the present city) and Santiago.

1566- Bartolome de las Casas dies.

1586- Francis Drake invades and burns Santo Domingo.

1591- Earthquake damages Santo Domingo.

1605- North and western parts of the island become totally unpopulated.

1606- San Juan de la Maguana and Neiba (in the south) become unpopulated.

1655- Penn and Venables fail to remove Spaniards from western Hispaniola.

1667- Buccaneers and Filibusterers attack Santiago.

1668- French occupation of Western Hispaniola begins (now Haiti).

TO BE CONTINUED....

[El Vegano]

15th, 16th And 17th Centuries.

[CyaBye3015]

Originally Posted by El Vegano

I
March 13, 1494- Columbus opens the first road in the New World called Paseo de los Hidalgos....

My guess would be that it had potholes!

[El Vegano]

Here is the rest of the story, condensed during the 'slower' periods in history.

1697- Rysnick peace agreement legalizes French occupation of western Hispaniola.
1720- Rebellion in Santiago against establishment of tax on livestock sold to French.
1727- Founding of Dajabon.
1733- Founding of San Juan de la Maguana
1737- Founding of Puerto Plata.
1739- Beginning of re-population of border lands by Spanish.
1747- Spanish incursions on French occupied lands begin.
1751- Montecristi begins resurgence and becomes free port.
1761- France and Spain sign pact opposing England (ramifications in Hispaniola).
1771- Border conflicts in Hispaniola.
June 3, 1777- Treaty of Aranjuez ratifies Hispaniola's borders.
1789- French Revolution (ramifications in Hispaniola).
August, 1793- Abolition of slavery in Santo Domingo.
July, 1795- Treaty of Basilea - British occupy Spanish territories and massive exodus of well to do from Santo Domingo.
April, 1798- Expulsion of British from Hispaniola.
January, 1801- Toussaint Louverture, leader of Haiti, unifies the island.
January, 1802- French invade Hispaniola.
June, 1802- Louverture taken prisoner by French.
December, 1803- French defeated by Haiti.
January, 1804- Haiti declares independence.
May, 1804- French drive Haitian forces out of Santiago.
1805- Christophe Dessalines invades Spanish side.
1806- Dessalines dies.
1808- Napoleon invades Spain (ramifications in Hispaniola).
1809- French give up in July, British occupy and leave one month later.
January, 1822- Boyer, leader of Haiti, invades and occupies Santo Domingo.
July, 1825- Haiti agrees to pay 150 million francs in return for French recognition.
1830- Spain demands return of Santo Domingo.
July 16, 1838- Founding of a secret society claiming independence and establishment of the Dominican Republic.
1842- Strong earthquake in Hispaniola.
August, 1843- Juan Pablo Duarte, founder of La Trinitaria, goes into exile.
January 1, 1844- Manifesto of Azua in favor of annexation to France.
January 16, 1844- Manifesto of La Trinitaria in favor of independence.
February 27, 1844- Independence declared in Puerta del Conde. The Dominican Republic is born.
March 15, 1844- Duarte returns from exile.
March 19, 1844- Battle of Azua against insistent Haitians.
March 30, 1844- Battle of Santiago against Haitian forces.
July 24, 1844- Founding fathers, Duarte, Sanchez and Mella declared traitors.
August 22, 1844- Founding fathers go into exile.
November 6, 1844- First Constitution signed in San Cristobal.
March 9, 1849- Another Haitian invasion takes place.
April 19, 1849- Haitian troops driven out.
November, 1855- Haitians invade again.
1860- End of Haitian hostilities.
March, 1861- Dominican President Pedro Santana proclaims annexation to Spain and is promptly named Captain General of the Province of Santo Domingo by Spanish crown.
1863- Rebellions and start of Guerra de la Restauracion (War of Restoration)
on August 16th.
March, 1865- Spanish crown decrees cancellation of annexation. End of War of Restoration.
1865-1888- Conspiracies, internal conflicts and revolts cause much upheaval during this period.
October, 1888- Ulises Heureaux becomes president and eventually dictator.
October, 1898- Heureaux sells border territories to Haiti.
July, 1899- Heureaux assasinated in Moca.
1899-1916- A period of conflicts and upheaval.
May, 1916- U. S. military forces invade and install a U.S. military government.
1917- Dominican resistance begins.
1920- Negotiations on U.S. withdrawal begin.
1924- End of U.S. occupation.
1930- Trujillo becomes president and eventual dictator for 31 years.
1947- Failure of planned invasion by Dominican and foreign sympathizers from Cayo Confite, Cuba.
July, 1949- Failure of invasion from Guatemalan territory.
June 14, 1959- Invasion in Constanza, Maimon and Estero Hondo by Dominican
and Cuban sympathizers from Cuban territory.
November 25, 1960- Mirabal sisters assasinated (eventually this date will become the worldwide Woman's Day, in their honor).
May 30, 1961- Trujillo assasinated.
November 19, 1961- Trujillo's relatives are forced to leave but not before killing the surviving members of the assasination plot.
January 18, 1962- Joaquin Balaguer, Trujillo's puppet president at the time of his death and long-time collaborator who remained as president, is forced to leave the country.
February 27, 1963- Juan Bosch becomes constitutional president.
September 20, 1963- Juan Bosch ousted in a military coup.
April 24, 1965- Revolution begins with sole purpose of restoring Bosch government.
April 28, 1965- U.S. military forces intervene and though claiming neutrality clearly take side against Constitutionalists and the majority of the people.
1966- Joaquin Balaguer, with U.S. backing, gets elected president and proceeds to get reelected in 1970 and 1974.
1978- Antonio Guzman of the PRD becomes president and commits suicide 43 days before the end of his mandate. Jacobo Majluta, vicepresident, becomes president.
1982- Jorge Blanco of the PRD becomes president.
1986- Joaquin Balaguer, 80 years old and blind, becomes president once again and is reelected in 1990 and 1994 under widespread claims of electoral fraud. His 1994 constitutional period is cut by 2 years and elections are held once again in 1996.
1996- Leonel Fernandez of the PLD becomes president.
2000- Hipolito Mejia of the PRD becomes president.
2004- Leonel Fernandez of the PLD elected once more after monumental failure of Mejia's government.

That, in a very superficial and condensed way, is the DR.

[Ogre of the Caribbean]

In a recent newspaper poll, Dominicans were asked to name the best president the DR has ever had. The largest % of the vote went to Antonio Guzman.

Why? I have read about his Presidency, but I can't find anything in it that seems all that dynamic.

What makes Guzman such a well liked President?

[miguel]

Vegano:

I had sent Robert a PM a few weeks ago telling him that I was going to start a thread about the Dominican history. I've been way too busy to do so but what you have done, although very different than what I had in mind, it's pretty good.


Let's not forget aboout Caonabo and Guacanagari.
Also disasters like San Zenon and the Tsunami in Matanzas.

Good job.

Thanks!.

[canadian bob]

Hi Miguel! Can you please expound on Coanabo, Guacanagari, the disasters at San Zenon & Matanzas... Thanks! Canadian Bob.

[Tordok]

I remain unable to follow day-to-day DR1 activity but I do try to scan the forum and keep up with whatever good DR History related threads might pop-up. DR1 is a vast cosmos nowadays (aptly led by Robert.... Skywalker?; .... thus I am no longer able -due to space-time implosions- to browse all categories like I'd prefer. Of course, other topics are a lot of fun and from time to time, aimless surfing has its own pleasures; however many threads are peripheral to my curiosity and since I must prioritize my DR1 time, I tend to fish for Historical and Sociological threads. The problem I have encountered is that the focus of any given thread could sometimes be so difficult to correlate with History, based on title alone; that it does make sense IMO for DR History to have a subcategory of its own. It would of course immediately guide any new visitor with a specific interest in these topics to navigate the enormous intergalactic oceans of DR1.

El Vegano's list of events seems like a good quick point of reference and study guide. Maybe a sticky?? ....Dominican History is a big favorite of mine and I welcome the enthusiasm and perspectives dedicated to this subject over the years by several DR1'ers (foreign and domestic alike). I look forward to the future questions and contributions under a new Forum section geared towards those of us who enjoy searching into the past....I know most of us would like to be up-to-speed and look forward for things to come, but we all know that when reading a book, meeting a person or watching a movie, we all want to go to the beginning. We wish to know the origins and sequence of events that help us make sense of people, books or movies. Same thing with the World and its diffrent cultures and nations. If we discuss DR history, much ought to be learned about its current society and about the peoples who have over time shared in the "penas y glorias" of this wonderful land.
Enhorabuena!

- Tordok

[miguel]

Originally Posted by canadian bob

Hi Miguel! Can you please expound on Coanabo, Guacanagari, the disasters at San Zenon & Matanzas... Thanks! Canadian Bob.

Sorry for my late response. I completely forgot about this thread. Here it goes:

Guacanagari was an Indian Chief who became Columbus friend when he arrived at Hispaniola. He Provided Columbus and his men with everything they needed.

Caonabo was an Indian Chief whom, after seeing the Spaniard "conquistadores" torture, rape, abuse and kill "his people", decided to fight against the Spaniards.

They killed him by tricking him.

He was told by Alonso De Ojeda, a "messenger" sent by the Queen and King of Spain to befriend him, that they had sent him a peace offering.

The "peace offering" was a pair of gold handcuffs and when he tried it on, he was taken away by De Ojeda. He died in a "shipwreck" as he was taken to Spain in irons.

San Zenon was the biggest hurricane to hit the DR. It happened in 1930 and it was estimated that over 6,000 Dominicans lost their lives.

A Tsunami hit Matanzas in 1946 and an estimated 500 Dominicans lost their lives.

Again, sorry for the delay.

[canadian bob]

Thank you Miguel! Did you see the movie "1492, The Conquest" It was put out some years ago. An excellent movie. Canadian Bob.