Abstract
In 1492 Columbus discovered the island of Hispaniola, which he called La Isla Española, and which for a time was also known as Santo Domingo. The city of Santo Domingo, founded by his brother, Bartholomew, in 1496, is the oldest city in the Americas. The western third of the island—now the Republic of Haiti—was later occupied and colonized by the French, to whom the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo was also ceded in 1795. In 1808 the Dominican population routed the French at the battle of Palo Hincado. Eventually, with the aid of a British naval squadron, the French were forced to return the colony to Spanish rule, from which it declared its independence in 1821. It was invaded and held by the Haitians from 1822 to 1844, when the Dominican Republic was founded and a constitution adopted.
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Further Reading
Gregory, Steven, The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Dominican Republic. 2006
Peguero, Valentina, The Militarization of Culture in the Dominican Republic, from the Captains General to General Trujillo. 2004
National Statistical Office: Oficina Nacional de Estadística, Av. México esq. Leopoldo Navarro, Edificio de Oficinas Gubernamentales ‘Juan Pablo Duarte’ Piso 9, Santo Domingo.
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(2022). Dominican Republic. In: The Statesman’s Yearbook 2023. The Statesman's Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96056-9_60
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96056-9_60
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