Dominican Republic Timeline

1. Dominican Republic Timeline Anisa Addie A nations culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people" - Mahatma Gandhi

2. Timeline • 1492 - Christopher Columbus visits the island, which he names Hispaniola ( translates as Little Spain) • 1496 - Spaniards set up first Spanish colony and Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus which subsequently served as the capital of all Spanish colonies in South America • 1510 The first shipment of Africans to Santo Domingo • 1515 The indigenous Taino Indians were practically annihilated due to continuos clashes and rebellion against the Spanish • 1586 January 1, Francis Drake attacked the heavily fortified city of Santo Domingo in Hispanola and forced the governor to pay a large ransom • 1697 - Treaty of Ryswick gives Haiti to France and the present Dominican Republic to Spain.

3. 1793 The first British soldiers came ashore at St. Domingue1795 - Spain cedes its portion of Hispaniola island to France1808 - Spain retakes Santo Domingo following revolt by Spanish Creoles1810 - Overthrow of the king of Spain by Napoleon1822 - Haitian Republic is born1844 Feb 27 - Dominican Republic gained independence from Haiti. Santo Domingo declares its independence and becomes the Dominican Republic1916-24 - US forces occupy the Dominican Republic following internal disorder1924 - Constitutional government assumes control and the US forces withdraw

4. 1937        Thousands of Haitian immigrants were massacred in the Dominican Republic under dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. An estimated 30,000 Haitians and black Dominicans were rounded up at gunpoint and executed, often by machetes (to give the impression that peasants had committed the murders). In 1998 the novel “The Farming of Bones” by EdwidgeDanticat was based on this event. • 1942        Minerva Bernardino led the fight for expanded rights in the new constitution. • 1950        Minerva Bernardino (d.1998 at 91) was appointed a representative of the Dominican Republic at the United Nations. She was one of the only 4 women to sign the 1945 UN Charter in San Francisco. She had insisted that the document include the phrase “to ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination against race, sex, condition or creed.”

5. 1956-1959    Some 1,300 Japanese made a 30-day, 8,000 mile voyage across the oceans to settle on free land offered by Dominican Republic dictator Gen. Rafael Trujillo. In 2000 more than 170 immigrants sued the Japanese government, claiming they were deceived into leaving Japan and taking bad land. In 2006 Japan settled the lawsuit, promising to pay up to $17,000 to each plaintiff as well as $10,000 to emigrants who did not take part in the suit. • 1961        May 30, Rafael Leonides Trujillo Molina (69), Dominican Republic dictator (1930-61), was murdered. In his final years he had installed Joaquin Balaguer as vice president and then as president. Balaguer fled to exile in NYC following the assassination. • 1962        Dec 20, In its first free election in 38 years, the Dominican Republic chose leftist Juan Bosch Gavino, the leftist leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, as president. Juan Bosch (1909-2001) was toppled in the Dominican Republic by the army shortly after being elected. His plans for land reform would have split up sugar plantations owned by generals

6. Current • 1991        Julia Alvarez, native of the Dominican Republic, wrote her novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.” • 1991        Former Dominican Rep. Pres. Jorge Blanco (1982-1986) was sentenced along with three other men to 20 years in prison for misspending government funds meant for military purchases. The conviction was overturned in 2001 by an appeals court that ruled Blanco and the three other men were never provided the right to defend themselves. • 1996        Nov 1, Pres. Fernandez fired his commander-in-chief Lt. Gen’l. Juan Bautista Rojas Tobar after he was accused of involvement in the 1994 slaying of Narciso Gonzalez. • 1998        Apr 8, Cuba restored relations with the Dominican Republic. • 2000        Feb 25, It was reported that the number of HIV infected people in the Caribbean region ranged from 500,000-700,000. Cases in Haiti were estimated to be 330,000 and 150,000 in the Dominican Republic • 2001        Oct 7, Hurricane Iris caused a mudslide in the Dominican Republic that killed 3 people

7. continued • 2002        Aug 10, A UNICEF report said about 2,500 Haitian children are smuggled illegally into the Dominican Republic each year to work as manual laborers or beggars. • 2004        Sep 6, The Supreme Court ordered the Dominican government to relinquish control of the country's oldest daily newspaper, which was taken over more than a year ago amid a major bank scandal • 2005        Aug 2, President Bush signed a free trade pact with five Central American nations and the Dominican Republic. • 2009        Sep 19, In the Dominican Republic Angel Villanova (19), baseball player for the SF Giants, allegedly shot and killed Mario Velete (25). Villanova had first signed with the Giants in 2006 and had recently signed a contract for $2.1 million.

8. 2010        Sep 23, In the Dominican Rep. 5 teenagers (ages 15 to 17), including two girls, were convicted and sentenced to 3-5 years in prison for killing 7 taxi drivers and seriously injuring two others by forcing most of them to drink drain cleaner. The teens used guns to assault the drivers in April and steal money from them. • 2011        May 29, In the Dominican Republic a new $2.7 million museum, honoring the more than 50,000 people who died under former dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, opened a day before the 50th anniversary of his death. • 2012        Feb 4, An overloaded boat carrying 70 migrants from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico overturned in the pre-dawn darkness off the coast of the Caribbean country. 13 people survived. 51 bodies were recovered by Feb 9 and the rest remained missing.