Final Project Research On The Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is situated on the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The remaining one third of the Island belongs to the country of Haiti. While it is not the intent of this essay to discuss the complete history of the country, it is important to mention that the Haitian side of the island was colonized by France while the Dominican side was colonized by Spain. The Spanish oppressed the indigenous native population that was on the island for a long time and after three centuries of occupation by the Spanish, the Dominican Republic

In 1821 the Dominicans rebelled against their Spanish colonizers, and succeeded in declaring independence. However, it was only nine weeks before the country was again forced to submit to the rule of another sovereign nation, Haiti. As Jan Lundius and Mats Lundahl stated in their book Peasants and Religion: A socioeconomic study of Dios Olivorio and the Palma Sola Movement in the Dominican Republic: “In February 1822, the Haitian president, Jean-Pierre Boyer; gained control of the entire island of Hispaniola without resistance, at the head of a 12,000-man invading army. The Haitians were to stay until 1844, when the Spanish-speaking population which had revolted the year before proclaimed the free and independent Dominican Republic” (Lundahl pg. 425). This was a very radical occupation, where Boyer attempted to reshape the Dominican Republic to how he thought it should be. One of his largest projects, was the confiscation of church and immigrant lands, and subsequently its redistribution. This, coupled with the destruction of large plantations, created a peasant class for the first time in the Dominican Republic.

The relationship between the Dominican Republic and Haiti is defined by Anti-Haitianismo, “an ideology legacy of racist Spanish colonial mentality, nineteenth-century racial theories and twentieth-century cultural neoracism into a web of anti-Haitian attitudes, racial stereotypes, and historical distortions” (Tavernier, 8). Anti-Haitianismo is not only directed towards Haitian migrants, but also towards black and mulatto Dominican lower classes. The ideology is used to continue the oppression of Haitians and dark-skinned Dominicans in Dominican society (Sagás, ix).

While the State Department was exploring different options to manage Haiti’s economy, there were several other responsibilities that had to be addressed in the Dominican Republic. In 1911, the Domican

The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola with Haiti situated on its western end. It is a part of the West Indies Island group. Fertile valleys and forests cover the Dominican Republic. The capital and largest city is Santo Domingo. In Spanish, the country is known as La Republica Dominicana (Sagas 303). The population of the Dominican Republic is 10,464,000 (Nations of the World).

In a important decision, the Dominican Republic's Constinutional Court in September 2013 stripped 210,000 people--most of whom are Dominicans born from parents of Haitian decant leaving them stateless. children born to undocumented Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic are not eligible for Dominican citizenship as of September 23, 2013 (Arbichold 2013). The court, permitted by law, made actions that the Dominican people in charge had already been making for the past 15 years - immediately and then in an organized way denying citinzenship to people of of Haitian people . The court ruled that a person born in the Dominivsn Republic to Haitian parents, was not Dominican. The court also ordered a scan of the civil registry to classify

Section 1: My great grandfather was a native resident of Haiti. He was alive during the very hostile period of persecution by the Dominican Republic. They were discriminated against solely because the Dominicans believed that Haitians were “blacker” than them because of their mostly African roots and felt they weren’t good enough to share the island of Hispaniola with. This racial tension between the two cultures is what led to the rift between the countries. This intense discrimination was also supported and reinforced by some government leaders at some points. In 1937, Rafael Trujillo, the president at that time, ordered the execution of every single Haitian person living on the Dominican-Haitian border. The total amount of deaths ranges from a low 547 to over 30,000 due to numerous firsthand accounts.

They were welcomed at Hispaniola by the Taínos but the Spaniards took advantage of the Taínos. Their kindness and hospitality made it more vulnerable and easier to be conquered by the Spaniards and turned into slaves for cheaper labor, and to grow and export natural resources like sugar cane. Sugar cane farming still raising controversy today, sugar cane fields are worked by Haitian people that mostly do not have papers to work legally in the country, and they are taken advantage of and treated as slaves. The biggest owner of sugar cane fields in the country is the American sugar company Domino sugar. Haitians are also part of the Dominican roots since we are mixed with one another.

The Maitland Agreement signed by Toussaint L’Ouverture and Great Britain, which later would include the United States, was essential to Haitian Independence during the 1790s – 1800s.

Alcázar de Colón, or the palace of Diego Columbus (who is the eldest son of Christopher) still stands in Santo Domingo and is one of the most visited museums on the island. The city established by Columbus held the first university, hospital and catholic cathedral in the new world. It was the first part of the new world to be completely overtaken by colonial spanish policy. Class and caste systems were created, and the Roman Catholic Church began to maintain both temporal and spiritual authority. This would lead to the exploitation and elimination of the natives and create a cruel and unjust slave-based society.

The Dominican Republic is a significant country. The Dominican Republic has become one of the most talked about Spanish speaking countries in today’s civilization. I chose to research this country because I found it to be one of the most attention-grabbing, Spanish speaking countries. The Dominicans have a vast and amazing culture it is unlike any other, Dominican culture originates from things such as their music or their sports but their culture would not have commenced if it would not have been for the history of the incredible country. When you first question a country, you contemplate how did it began?

The history of the Dominican Republic formation is first dated back to The Taino’s, which split up the island into five territories and chiefdoms. A major event of the country’s formation was in 1492 when in his first voyage Christopher Columbus’s discovered and claimed it. Columbus’s exploration triggered Spanish takeover of the American mainland and the Caribbean. Due to the French taking control of the western third of the island, that part of the island became known as Haiti in 1804. The Dominican Republic tried to gain its own independence in 1821 but failed for 22 years due to the Haitians taking the island over until 1844 when it gained its own independence. But they willingly returned to the Spanish Empire in 1861. Due to voluntarily

The Geography of Dominican Republic Explored and claimed by Columbus on his first voyage in 1492, the island of Hispaniola became a spring board for Spanish conquest of the Caribbean and the American mainland. In 1697, Spain recognized French dominion over the western third of the island, which in 1804 became Haiti. The remainder of the island, by then known as Santo Domingo, sought to gain its own independence in 1821, but it was conquered and ruled by the Haitians for 22 years. It finally attained independence as the Dominican Republic in 1844. In 1861 the Dominicans voluntarily returned to the Spanish Empire, but two years later they launched a war that restored independence in 1865.

Development throughout the life of a person depends on nourishment, shelter, education, and many other factors. A person cannot lead a full life without catering to their needs and interests, and living in poverty does not help. Poverty levels affect many people all over the world, specifically, the Dominican Republic. I recently took a trip there with my mother, and, during this trip, I noticed many dilapidated homes that housed under-nourished families. I feel that these situations do not help people develop successfully or practice all of their beliefs. To further research my assumptions, I interviewed Yadiris Aleman who was born and raised in a small town outside of Santiago. She moved to America when she was 20 with her family, and

The Dominican Republic does not have a ” jus soli” law (a legal term that automatically gives citizenship to those born in a country). For instance, Dominican nationality is not acquired simply by having been born on Dominican soil. After the constitutional tribunal stated the national regularization plan of foreigners in 2013, of the 458,233 immigrants, only 180,000 are not able to get a regular migration status in the Dominican Republic. However, the Haitian deportation by the Dominican Republic government is creating a humanitarian crisis in the Dominican-Haiti border with significant impact in the Dominican Republic economy and increasing the Haitian immigration of other countries in the region.