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Dominican Republic
Country in the Caribbean located on the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola, with Haiti occupying the western section of the island; bounded on the south by the Caribbean Sea, on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the east by the Mona Passage, which separates it from Puerto Rico.In 1492, Christopher Columbus became the first European to arrive on the island of Hispaniola. Spain fought with France for control of the island until 1697, when it was divided into two territories by the Treaty of Ryswick. French Saint Domingue, which occupied the westernmost third, became the Republic of Haiti in 1804; and Spanish Santo Domingo, which occupied the eastern two-thirds, became the Dominican Republic in 1844, after Haiti had controlled it for more than twenty years. The population of the Dominican Republic, which fought for independence from Spain in 1865, and against United States occupation from 1916 to 1924, has always consisted mainly of blacks and mulattoes.The nation's African heritage is evident in every aspect of Dominican life: music and dance, cuisine, language, the Dominican Vodou religion, and the Gagá cult. This heritage has been marginalized, however, by widespread belief that Dominicans are mostly Hispanic, or even Taíno Indian, rather than black. Dominicans themselves generally recognize their African heritage as part of their ethnicity, although they do not necessarily see blackness as central to their identity. For Afro-Dominicans, the process of defining racial identity has been complicated by the fact that the Dominican nation emerged from the black Republic of Haiti. The antiblack and anti-Haitian ideology of the Dominican Republic's dominant classes exists alongside the Dominicans' awareness of their African heritage.
Native American Presence
At the time of the arrival of explorer Christopher Columbus, about 400,000 Taíno Indians inhabited the island of Hispaniola. Europeans saw the Taínos as a natural resource to be exploited in the development of the colony. The number of Taínos dramatically diminished in the first years of Spanish colonization, as a result of European disease and the encomienda system, in which the Taínos were distributed among the colonizers to perform forced labor in the mines and farms, with the requirement that they be taught the Catholic faith. Under the Spanish colonial system in the Americas, many Taínos committed suicide, and many Taíno women aborted pregnancies so that their children would not be born into the conditions that they themselves endured. Census figures from 1508 indicated that only 60,000 Taínos remained by that time. Between 1515 and 1517, the scarcity of Taíno labor prompted 800 European settlers to emigrate to Central America and South America in search of gold and better labor resources. In 1516, there were only around 715 Spaniards and free blacks on Hispaniola, which meant a total population of fewer than 4,000, including enslaved Africans. The few remaining Taínos were distributed among the most powerful settlers. Within the first forty years of Spanish occupation, the Taíno population had been almost completely destroyed.Conquest and Colonization
The first enslaved African to reach Hispaniola arrived as early as Columbus. Santo Domingo is considered the “cradle of blackness in the Americas” because it was the port of entry for the first slaves traded to the New World. From 1492 until 1510 (the process was made official in 1500), the island saw a slow infusion of ladinos (Christianized blacks from Spain) and bosales (slaves imported directly from Africa). They came from what today are the countries of Guinea, Cape Verde, São Tomé, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and Angola. In the course of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, these people came to be grouped under ethnic labels such as the Arará, Manicongo, and Lucumí, or Yoruba. The price of an individual slave varied from ninety to 150 pesos, making slaves a costly investment. These slaves performed different kinds of work: as laborers in the sugarcane fields; in the early years, as gold miners; as jornaleros, slaves who were hired out by their owners to a third party for a specific amount of time; or as domestic servants.When the island's gold was totally exhausted, agriculture seemed a more plausible means of acquiring wealth. In 1510, after a period of trial and error, the settler Gonzalo de Vellosa established one of the first successful sugarcane mills, thus increasing investments in Santo Domingo, where most of the elite lived and transportation facilities were better. By 1516 he had finally demonstrated that the sugar business could be lucrative. The number of black slaves increased with the growth of both the sugar industry and the number of sugar refineries, which also used a remaining small quantity of Taínos as labor force. Many Europeans emigrated to the island in the hope of becoming wealthy traders. Nevertheless, from 1520 to 1540, after both gold and laborers in Santo Domingo became scarce, many Europeans left the island for Mexico and Peru. Blacks on the island always outnumbered whites. In 1542 there were 30,000 blacks, 6,000 whites, and only 200 Taínos. By the end of the sixteenth century, 61 percent of the population was black, 23 percent was white, and 15 percent was mulatto.After 1581 ginger cultivation and cattle raising surpassed the production of sugar cane in economic importance, bringing changes to the slave system. Cattle raising required fewer slaves than sugar cane production. Slaves were permitted to bear arms. The years after 1568 were very difficult. The number of slaves decreased significantly due to diseases, prompting a labor crisis. In 1606 only 800 slaves were dedicated to the production of sugar, while 6,742 worked cultivating ginger, cassava, and corn, and 88 worked as domestic servants.Blacks and mulattoes dominated Santo Domingo's population for many reasons. The number of slaves who were imported legally or introduced to the island as contraband increased as a result of slave marriages and interracial procreation. With the downfall of the plantation economy, these people had no alternative but to stay on the island. A significant number of slaves crossed the border from French Saint-Domingue to escape brutal conditions and formed Maroon communities such as San Lorenzo de las Minas, established in 1678. In addition, many slaves, such as Pablo Alí and his Batallón de los Morenos, won their freedom by fighting for the Spanish monarchy during the Haitian Revolution, which resulted in the establishment of the Republic of Haiti in 1804. When the slaves in Santo Domingo were finally given their freedom by the Haitians in 1822, the island's population had a majority of free blacks.Emancipation and Abolition
The Codigo Negro Carolino, written by the colonial élite out of fear and prejudice against blacks, was a system of laws that regulated every aspect of the lives of Santo Domingo's slaves, giving slaveholders the authority to decide what slaves ate, where they lived, and what they wore, and to exercise control over slaves' religious beliefs and other activities. Slaves were severely punished for their disobedience. The Código was established because Creoles lived in fear of slave revolts, which they tried to prevent by favoring the importation of black slaves directly from Africa who could not speak the language of their new country. Still, the first registered black insurrection in Santo Domingo, which took place in the sugar refineries owned by Almirante Diego Colón and Melchor de Castro in 1522, was facilitated because it was led by an ethnic group called the gelofes, known for their strength and pride, who shared the same language. Another effort toward preventing revolts was the importation of African women who might create family bonds with male slaves and give birth to new slaves, thus also offering a solution to the problem of a diminishing labor force.
The Embarcadero This image from around 1871 shows the bustling wharf of Santo Domingo City.
Library of Congress
Library of Congress
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic in the Twentieth Century
The influence of the United States increased over the years, reaching its peak in 1916 when the United States invaded the Dominican Republic and instituted a military government that lasted until 1924. The United States justified this invasion as a national security strategy, since U.S. participation in World War I was imminent, and many of the Dominican political leaders of the time expressed public support for Germany. The invasion was met with resistance by many Afro-Dominicans, among them Ramón Natera, Gregorio Urbano Gilbert, and Mateo Liborio. Some economic and social conditions seemed to improve under U.S. rule, however. During this period, the Dominican Republic became the second-largest exporter (after Cuba) of sugarcane. Many Haitians were brought to work as braceros, or sugar cane cutters. They worked under the same inhumane conditions to which slaves had been subject previously. The sugar cane industry, which has proved one of the primary sources of Dominican wealth, was possible because these Haitian braceros, constrained by their limited economic options, took highly undesirable jobs.The U.S. invasion brought resentment caused by the occupants' racist attitudes toward Dominicans. Furthermore, the departure of occupying forces was followed by growing racial hatred against Haitians, which found fertile ground in the regime of dictator Rafael Trujillo. The former commander-in-chief of the Dominican National Guard, which was created and trained by the U.S. Marines during the occupation, Trujillo ruled from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Trujillo's regime was characterized by a savage campaign against Haitians. In 1937 he ordered the killing of at least 25,000 Haitians as part of an attempt to “whiten” the country. During his regime the participation in any kind of Vodou ceremonies was prohibited by a government campaign that sought to eradicate African spiritual expressions. Another example of repression and prejudice came about the year after Trujillo's death, in December 28, 1962, when the mainly Afro-Dominican peasant community of Palma Sola, which challenged the racial, political, and economic situation of the country, was massacred by the Dominican military.In December 1962, Juan Bosch won the elections for the opposition's Dominican Revolutionary Party, which had been founded in 1939 by anti-Trujillo exiles with the support of the middle and lower classes. Dominican armed forces, directed by General Wessín y Wessín, staged a successful coup against Bosch's presidency that same year. Bosch went into exile in Puerto Rico and military powers ruled the republic, although a sham civilian government, presided over by a triumvirate, was established.Dominicans who sought a civilian government revolted again in 1965. A battle broke out between Loyalists, who wanted to maintain the triumvirate and were led by General Wessín y Wessín, and Constitutionalists, who wanted Bosch to return. The specter of communism and the possible victory of the Constitutionalists was used to justify a second invasion by the United States on April 28, 1965. The conflict was formally ended on August 31, with the Act of Dominican Reconciliation. This act stated that a temporary government would preside until national elections were held in June 1966.Joaquín Balaguer was elected president in the 1966 elections and reelected in 1970 and 1974; he lost the 1978 elections, but returned to power in 1982. Balaguer perpetuated Trujillo's racial policies and hatred toward Haitians. In 1989 Balaguer wrote La isla al revés: Haití y el destino dominicano (“The Island Turned on its Head: Haiti and Dominican Destiny”), in which, after stating that Dominicans are Hispanic, “white and Christian,” he exposes his racist ideology by attributing to Haitians the responsibility for the “progressive ethnic decadence” of the Dominican nation.In 1994 Balaguer ran against José Francisco Peña Gómez for the presidency. Born of Haitian parents, Peña Gómez became the first Afro-Dominican of Haitian descent to be elected president, in an overwhelming victory. Nevertheless, the victory occurred despite a massive campaign against him, with Balaguer claiming that Peña Gómez's “Haitianness” represented “real blackness,” thus disqualifying him from representing the Dominican people, according to Balaguer's definition of national identity. Balaguer's opposition ultimately prevented Peña Gómez from assuming the presidency, by alleging that the elections were fraudulent. After new elections, Leonel Fernández Reyna, playing by Balaguer's rules, became president and Peña Gómez was restricted to the position of major. In 2000 Hipólito Mejía Dominguez was elected president. He has recognized that poverty and environmental degradation are the island's chief troubles, and has given priority to improving relations with Haiti.Many Afro-Dominicans have been essential figures in the development and history of the country. They have been represented in all areas: from politics to the arts. Personalities such as Maxiliano Gómez Horacio, head of the left-wing party Movimiento Popular Dominicano, and Florinda Muñoz Soriano, known as Mamá Tingó, who fought with the peasants from Hato Viejo for the right to own their land, have struggled for social justice and better living conditions. Many Afro-Dominican writers, including Blas Jiménez, Manuel del Cabral, Norberto James, Ramón Marrero Aristy, and Aída Cartagena Portalatín, are recognized for their great talent. Some, such as Johnny Ventura, have crossed national borders and become true cultural, as well as political, leaders.The relationship between race and Dominican national identity has been a very important factor in the formation of the country. Ethnic and racial identification varies, depending on definitions stressing one or other of the Dominican Republic's three different roots—Taíno, Spanish, and African. The Dominican Republic's African heritage is without doubt an essential part of its identity. This has remained true even during periods of institutionalized racism and the definition of Dominicans as primarily Hispanic. Often, however, the Dominican Republic's African roots are diminished or go unrecognized, and citizens prefer to call themselves indio (Indian, the official racial designation) to avoid blackness, despite knowing that the native Indians have been extinct for centuries.See also African American Ethnic Groups in Latin America and the Caribbean; Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean Identity: An Interpretation; Dominican-Haitian Relations; Gómez Horacio, Maximiliano; Maroonage in the Americas; MarreroAristy, Ramón.Sign up to recieve email alerts from African American Studies Center
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