The Dominican Republic was initially inhabited by the Taino Indians and a smaller tribe of hunters known as the Ciboneys who lived for 1,500 years on the island then known as Aiti, an aboriginal word meaning mountainous. Apart from the odd battle with the warlike Carib Indians, life was generally peaceful until the fateful year of 1492 when three Spanish ships appeared. Christopher Columbus had been commissioned by the Spanish crown to seek the sea passage to India and became the first European to set foot on the island. Columbus had a feeling that he was at the centre of "the New World" and therefore named this new land La Hispaniola in homage to Spain. On Christmas day his men built the first Spanish settlement of the New World and called it La Navidad (Christmas in Spanish) near Cape Haiti.

Under Spanish rule the Taino Indians were forced to exploit the gold deposits discovered in the western part of the island. The unaccustomed labour and a number of epidemics had the effect of wiping the Indian population out within a few decades. African slaves transported to the island initially by the Spanish and then by the French were employed to take over the Tainos forced labour. Today 70% of the Dominican Republics population are known as Mulattos, the extensive result of intermingling between European settlers and African slaves.

1502 saw the establishment of the first city of the New World, Santo Domingo, by Christopher and his brother Bartholomew Columbus.  The city is steeped in history and has seen much struggle and conflict over the years.  Sir Francis Drake attacked Santo Domingo in 1586. His men pillaged the town and burned large areas to the ground, after which a series of earthquakes devastated the city even further.

As the riches of islands were taken across the Atlantic Ocean another breed of entrepreneur began to seek their fortune in a ruthless and violent industry known as "the sweet trade". Unlike Messrs. Cadbury and Mars (in the more reputable form of the confectionery business), Messrs. Blackbeard (thought to be from Bristol in the United Kingdom), his pal Henry Morgan and Charles Vane plundered the Caribbean and its cargo ships.  Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, British and American pirates swarmed these waters and would battle each other depending on who was at war with who!

Much of the 14 billion pesos worth of gold, silver and gems taken from the Americas remains at the bottom of the ocean or hidden in a remote corner of the Caribbean by a pirate who was either captured or simply too drunk to remember where the treasure was hidden!. Check out The Real DRs dive pages - it could be a hobby worth taking up!

In 1697 the western part of the island was officially declared a French colony under the name of Saint Domingue. The Spanish had to settle with the eastern portion - an area similar in size to the Dominican Republic today.  The attempt by Spanish Creoles to regain possession of the western portion of the island by joining forces with nearly half a million rebelling black Haitian slaves failed.  Toussaint L’Overture, the famous slave leader, who is still sometimes referred to as the greatest black hero in history, was not only able to chalk up a victory against the Spanish, but also paved the way for liberation from French rule.  In 1804 the first independent black state was declared under the name of Haiti, which by 1821 even included the Spanish eastern areas.  In 1844 the patriot Juan Pablo Duarte was able to declare the newly won independence of the state of the Dominican Republic.  Duarte day is a huge holiday here, when Dominicans remember their forefathers and the freedom it brought them.

On the 20th May 1506, almost two years after his final visit to the West Indies, Christopher Columbus died in Spain. Three centuries later his last request was fulfilled: his remains were transferred to the cathedral in Santo Domingo for interment. When Spain was forced to cede Hispaniola to France in 1795, one of the coffins in the Columbus vault was hastily taken to Havana.  It remained there until Cuban independence in 1898 when the Spaniards wanted Columbus brought back to Spain, he was moved to the cathedral in Seville (still having adventures in even death).

Dominicans don't agree with this version, however, they are convinced there was a mix up when the coffin was removed in 1795.  Apparently, Christopher Columbus’s coffin was left behind, and it was the coffin of his son, Luis Colon, which eventually found its way to Seville.  During renovation work on the cathedral in Santo Domingo on the 10th September 1877, a coffin was discovered bearing an inscription that clearly referred to Christopher Columbus.  In 1898 the remains of Columbus were placed with a marble and bronze mausoleum in the Basilica Menor, and since 6th October 1992 people can feel close to the Great Admiral in the Faro a Colon in Santo Domingo.