The island's first inhabitants were Taíno indians, followed later by Caribs who settled near Samaná. Columbus `discovered' the island in 1492 on his first foray into the so-called New World. He named it Hispaniola (`Little Spain') and returned with a thousand colonists the following year ready to make it the centerpiece of Spain's new empire. Naturally it was the Taíno who were set to work to build this vision, and within six years of Columbus' arrival they had been thoroughly decimated. The original Spanish settlement near Isabela was abandoned after just a few years and settlers shifted to the present site of Santo Domingo, where Columbus' son, Diego, tried to flesh out his father's blueprint.
Unfortunately, not only did the Spaniards run out of Amerindian slaves, Hispaniola also ran out of gold. Despite developing as the center of the empire's judicial, religious and administrative concerns, Santo Domingo soon lost prominence when gold and silver were discovered in Mexico and Peru. Pirates ransacked Spanish settlements on Hispaniola and Spain finally gave up on the western third of the island and ceded it to France in 1697 - a decision it no doubt came to rue as the French turned what became known as Haiti into the world's richest sugarcane producer. The slave rebellion in Haiti was initially supported by the Spaniards but their politicking backfired when slave leader Toussaint L'Ouverture invaded the eastern part of Hispaniola, took Santo Domingo and freed the island's 40,000 slaves. This prompted much of the Spanish elite to relocate to neighboring islands like Puerto Rico and Cuba.
The French drove Toussaint back to the western third of the island, and Haiti declared independence in 1804. The Spanish then kicked the French out of Hispaniola, but the Haitians invaded the eastern half of the island again in 1821. This time they stayed for 23 years, looting the country, freeing the slaves (again) and bringing economic activity to a standstill. A nascent Dominican nationalist movement formed during the occupation and whupped the Haitians in 1844, though the first 50 years of independence were characterized by self-interested dictators, repeated fears of a Haitian reinvasion and even an attempt to persuade the Spaniards to return to administer the country.
The US considered annexing the troubled republic in 1870 but garnered control after the country went bankrupt and was placed in receivership in 1907. US military might arrived in 1916 on the tail of an invasion of Haiti. US forces tarted up the country's infrastructure and introduced baseball but failed to win the hearts and minds of Dominicans, and they left after eight years. The Dominican army chief Rafael Trujillo stepped into the breach by foul means in 1930, beginning three decades of brutal dictatorship, during which he is reputed to have dispatched 500,000 Dominicans to an early grave. The economy prospered briefly until profits began disappearing into Trujillo's personal Swiss bank accounts. His assassination in 1961 left the country in turmoil and the US justified a second invasion on the pretext that the republic was about to become a second Cuba.
The past 35 years have been marred by political opportunism, electoral fraud, government corruption, economic decline, high unemployment, extreme poverty, wayward infrastructure projects and occasional civic violence. Joaquin Balaguer has presided over much of this era and, despite its turmoil, has been elected president no less than five times. Although no longer president, he continues to influence the shape and nature of national politics. The Dominican Republic is occasionally volatile, but it's hoped that the country's increasing reliance on tourism will be a stabilizing factor since nobody will benefit if visitors are scared away.
Culture
The culture of the Dominican Republic is a fusion of Amerindian, African, Spanish and American influences. The Taínos left foods, words and medicines. African slaves brought the seeds of voodoo and merengue. Spain gave the country a language, a faith and a deep strain of machismo. Spanish is the common tongue, though it's spoken extremely quickly and laced with a rich local slang. Every town and village has its own Catholic church and patron saint, and the clergy have played an important role in the country's politics. The fervor with which Dominicans follow baseball is indicative of US influence, which mainlines into the country's cultural vein through the 500,000 Dominicans residing in New York City.
Although other countries in the Caribbean (notably neighboring Haiti) claim to have originated the merengue, most aficionados give pride of place to the Dominican Republic. A hybrid of African and Latin rhythms, merengue became popular during WWI. It's essentially dance music, played by a full band in Santo Domingo nightclubs or by three-piece combos in the countryside. Dancers move only from their hips down, shuffling to an uptempo 2/4 beat. Merengue has become popular the world over, especially in New York and other cities with large expatriate Dominican communities. There'll be no shortage of teachers on the dance floor willing to give you a hand with your technique.
The Spanish settled in what is now the Dominican Republic at the end of the 15th century, when North America existed in the European consciousness only as a Norse legend and Henry VIII had yet to accede to the British throne. The Spanish chose Santo Domingo as the capital of their New World empire and it became the launching pad for incursions into Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico. Since this brief period in the limelight, the world has passed the Dominican Republic by. Today it's known as much for its enthusiasm for baseball and its lenient divorce laws as it is for its rich associations with Columbus and the conquistadors.
There's a lot to explore in the Dominican Republic, from the colonial core of Santo Domingo to the beautiful beaches running the length of its Atlantic coast. The coastal plains give way to the foothills and highland valleys of the substantial Cordillera Central, creating a topography so crumpled that one sea captain asked to describe the landscape simply screwed up a piece of paper and chucked it on a table. This uneven terrain is a gorgeous patchwork of palm, forest, sugarcane, coffee and tobacco fields.
Beautiful as it may be, the Dominican Republic is a poor country - some estimates put more than 60% of the population below the poverty line. The locals tend to wear their poverty lightly and make the best of the raw deal they've been dealt - though one look at the numbers attempting the risky crossing to Puerto Rico, in a bid to enter the USA, will put pay to any nonsense about them being content with their lot in life.
Tourist development is limited to a string of resorts washed up like flotsam on the northern and eastern beaches. Nearly all visitors are European package tourists, who know a good Caribbean deal when they see one. Head into the interior and you're not going to be meeting anyone but locals, most of whom are going to be mighty surprised to see you. If you intend to get out and about in the Dominican Republic and want to interact meaningfully with the locals, you had better speak Spanish or be a damn fine dancer.
The Dominican Republic occupies the central and eastern portions of the island of Hispaniola, the second largest in the Caribbean. The republic's neighbor, Haiti, occupies the western third of the island. Hispaniola lies 800 miles (1300km) southeast of Miami, wedged between Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Dominican Republic measures roughly 200 miles (320km) east to west and 100 miles (160km) north to south. It boasts the Caribbean's highest peak, the 3175m (10,400ft) Pico Duarte.
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