Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.
History of Country: The countries of the Dominican Republic and Haiti share the island of Hispaniola. The earliest people to live on Hispaniola were the Taíno. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed. Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 as the first permanent European settlement in the Western Hemisphere. Throughout the 1500s, a growing number of Spanish settlers continued to arrive at Santo Domingo, claiming the territory and forcing the Taíno to work as slaves. Due to the mistreatment and diseases, many of the Taínos died. Later, The French began to trade heavily with Hispaniola and established colonies. Treaties were signed by Spanish and French leaders, which resulted in France taking control of both Haiti and Dominican Republic in 1795. The French brought slaves into the land from Africa to work on the plantation. These slaves rebelled and fought against the French landowners. They captured Santo Domingo in 1808. Spain regained control of the land, but was overthrown in 1821. Haiti governed the island until 1838. On February 27, 1844, the Dominican Republic became a country. Over the years, the Dominican Republic has experienced economic and political crisis and instability. By 1905, the Republic went bankrupt; U.S. helped it to repay the money it owed to other countries but assumed control of its customs. With continuing political violence in Dominican Republic, U.S. troops stayed in the country between 1916 to 1924. Today, the country is a democratic government. Much work is needed to continue building its economic instability.
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