Dominican Republic History

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…

As international concern began to grow during the Second world war over the Nazi persecution of the Jewish people, Franklyn D. Roosevelt called an international conference held in Evian, Switzerland in 1938.Delegations from 32 countries did in fact attend the conference however only one Head of State from all these countries offered refuge to the Jewish people and that was Dictator Trujillo of the Dominican Republic. He said that he would accept up to 200,000 refugees into the Dominican Republic.Of…

The Interesting and Little Known Things about The Dominican Republic Railways Did you even know there are train tracks here in the Dominican Republic? Most of the tracks originally built were narrow gauge plantation trains but two railways were also built for transporting cargo and passengers. An English built line was inaugurated in 1886 that ran from La Vega to Sanchez. It cost 2 million US dollars even then and was 62 miles long.  Even today you can still see…

Who were the Mirabal Sisters? Patria Mercedes Mirabal born February 27th 1924 to November 25th 1960Minerva Argentina Mirabal born March 12th 1926 to November 25th 1960Antonia Maria Teresa Mirabalborn October 15th 1935 to November 25th 1960 All 3 sisters were natives of the Dominican Republic and were fevently opposed to the cruel dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. There is a fourth sister who is alive today and her name is Beglica  Adela Dede Mirabal-Reyes, known as Dede.  She did not…

The world has seen various dictators come and go throughout the years, some more notorious than others. Both the Dominican Republic and Haiti have been home to three such characters, the memories of which are still quite clear in the minds of many Dominican and Haitian people today. Rafael Trujillo During the nineteenth century Haiti won its independence from France and controlled its Spanish speaking neighbour until 1844 when the Dominican Republic became independent.In the twentieth century the United States…

On October 18th 1782 the Le Scipion, a French 74 gun ship of the line, ran aground in the Bay of Samana here in the Dominican Republic after a full scale gun battle with two English war ships the London and the Torbay! Today a full scale recovery is underway, led by the Deep Blue Marine Inc., of Florida who has already brought to the surface numerous artifacts and taken amazing under water shots to capture this incredible discovery. They…

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…