Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Treaty of Ryswick settles the nine-year pan-European War of the Grand Alliance. As a
result, Hispaniola's borders are settled, dividing the island into Spanish Santa Domingo
and French St-Domingue.
1821-22
Colonists of Santo Domingo, known as Spanish Haiti, declare independence from Spain in
November 1821, only to be invaded by Haiti nine weeks later and incorporated into a
united Hispaniola.
1844
Coalition of Santo Domingo intellectuals and rebel Haitian soldiers spark a largely blood-
less coup and the Dominican Republic declares its independence from Haiti, after 22 years
of occupation.
1849
Buenaventura Baez begins the first of five terms - between 1849 and 1878 - as president of
the DR. One of his first acts was an attempt to have his country annexed by the USA.
1865
Two years after the initial uprising in Santiago, triggered by the Spanish authority's con-
tinual erosion of Dominican rights, the DR gains independence by defeating Spanish
troops in the War of Restoration.
1880-1884
A handful of modern sugar mills begin operating in San Pedro de Macorís, the start of the
Dominican sugar industry.
1904-1905
US Marines are sent to Santo Domingo to assist the Dominican government fighting
rebels; customs collections are turned over to the US.
1916-24
After years of civil wars, the US occupies the Dominican Republic under the pretense of se-
curing debt payments owed by the defaulting Dominican government.
1924-30
The country is led by a progressive president, Horacio Vásquez, whose administration
builds major roads and schools and initiates irrigation and sanitation programs.
