Hispaniola
The island of Hispaniola (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) as a place: Spanish Santo Domingo, French Saint-Domingue and the events that shaped and divided the island, from 1492 to 1844.
Category: Places
- September 1493Columbus sails on his second voyage with 17 ships to settle Hispaniola
A fleet of 17 ships and over a thousand men, including settlers, soldiers and priests, leaves Cádiz in late September 1493. It is the first Spanish colonising expedition to the Americas.
- c. 1494Columbus founds La Isabela on Hispaniola, the first European town in the Americas
At the turn of 1493-94 Columbus founds La Isabela on the north coast of Hispaniola, in today's Dominican Republic, as the first Spanish colonial town in the Americas. Sources give late December 1493 or early January 1494.
- 1495Columbus sends hundreds of enslaved Taíno to Spain
In 1495 Columbus's men round up over 1,000 Taíno and ship about 500 to Spain to be sold; many die on the voyage, and the numbers vary by source. Queen Isabella soon orders an inquiry into whether they may be enslaved.
- c. 1495Spanish colonists impose a gold tribute on the Taíno of Hispaniola
After Vega Real, Columbus's government makes Taíno adults pay a regular tribute in gold, or in cotton or food where there is no gold. Villages that fail to pay are punished, and many Taíno flee or die.
- March 1495Spanish forces defeat the Taíno at the Battle of Vega Real on Hispaniola
Columbus's brother Bartholomew and Spanish troops with dogs and cavalry defeat a large Taíno force on Hispaniola in March 1495 (24 March in most sources), ending organised Taíno resistance on the island.
- August 23, 1500Francisco de Bobadilla arrests Columbus at Santo Domingo
A royal investigator, Bobadilla, arrives at Santo Domingo on 23 August 1500, takes over the government of Hispaniola and sends Columbus and his brothers to Spain in chains after colonists' complaints. Historians dispute his fairness.
- c. 1501Spain permits the shipment of enslaved Africans to Hispaniola
Around 1501 the Spanish crown allows Christianised, Spanish-speaking enslaved Africans to be taken to Hispaniola. Ovando soon asks for the shipments to stop, but demand grows as Taíno numbers fall. Sources give 1501 or 1503.
- 1502Bartolomé de las Casas sails to Hispaniola with Nicolás de Ovando
Las Casas travels with his father in Ovando's 1502 fleet to Hispaniola, where he receives land and enslaved Taíno labourers under the encomienda system he would later condemn. One source gives 1499.
- 1502Nicolás de Ovando arrives as governor of Hispaniola and sets up the encomienda
Ovando sails with about 30 ships and arrives at Santo Domingo in 1502. He introduces the encomienda, in which Taíno are assigned to Spanish colonists as forced labour in return for instruction in Christianity.
- 1504Hernán Cortés sails to Hispaniola and settles at Azua
In 1504 Cortés reaches Santo Domingo, where he receives an encomienda and a post as notary in Azua. Seven years later he will join Diego Velázquez's conquest of Cuba.
- December 21, 1511Antonio de Montesinos denounces the treatment of the Taíno in a sermon at Santo Domingo
On 21 December 1511 the Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos tells the colonists of Hispaniola that their abuse of the Taíno is a sin. Bartolomé de las Casas hears it, and it leads to the Laws of Burgos.
- December 1512The Laws of Burgos regulate the treatment of Indigenous people in the Spanish colonies
In response to Montesinos's sermon, Ferdinand II issues the Laws of Burgos in December 1512, the first Spanish code for the Americas. They limit labour and require conversion but do not end encomienda or slave raids.
- c. 1518Smallpox spreads through the Taíno population of Hispaniola
The first recorded smallpox epidemic reaches Hispaniola in late 1518 or 1519 and kills a large share of surviving Taíno. Estimates of their numbers vary widely, and forced labour and violence had already reduced them.
- 1519 – 1533Enriquillo's Taíno revolt in the Bahoruco mountains of Hispaniola
The cacique Enriquillo rebels against Spanish colonists in 1519 and holds out in the Bahoruco mountains for years. A peace agreement is reached in 1533, after Charles V's envoy offers his people freedom to settle where they choose.
- December 1521Enslaved Africans rise on Diego Columbus's sugar estate near Santo Domingo
In late December 1521 about 20 enslaved people, mostly Wolof, rise on Diego Columbus's plantation near Santo Domingo. It is widely regarded as the first documented slave revolt in the Americas; it is put down.
- 1522Bartolomé de las Casas enters the Dominican order in Santo Domingo
After the Cumaná failure Las Casas becomes a novice at the Dominican Santa Cruz monastery in Santo Domingo in 1522 and takes his vows in 1523. He spends years in study and writing.
- January 1586Francis Drake captures and ransoms Santo Domingo
Francis Drake's English fleet takes Santo Domingo, the Spanish colonial capital on Hispaniola, in early January 1586 and extorts a ransom (given as 25,000 ducats by one source). He then sails for Cartagena.
- 1605 – 1606Spain depopulates northern and western Hispaniola in the Devastations of Osorio
On Philip III's order, Governor Antonio de Osorio forces the people of Puerto Plata, Monte Cristi, Bayajá and Yaguana to move near Santo Domingo to stop smuggling. The abandoned lands later attract foreign settlers and runaway slaves.
- April 1655English Western Design force fails to take Santo Domingo, then seizes Jamaica
In April 1655 Cromwell's expedition under Penn and Venables is repulsed outside Santo Domingo, losing about a thousand men. The fleet turns to weakly held Jamaica and takes it in May.
- 1665Louis XIV names Bertrand d'Ogeron governor of Tortuga and the coast of Saint-Domingue
In 1665 France appoints Bertrand d'Ogeron to govern the buccaneers and settlers on Tortuga and the north-western coast of Hispaniola. He promotes tobacco planting and brings in indentured labourers, laying the base of Saint-Domingue.
- March 1685Louis XIV issues the Code Noir for slavery in the French colonies
The March 1685 edict of 60 articles sets the legal framework for slavery in France's Caribbean colonies, requiring baptism of the enslaved while permitting harsh punishments. It was registered in Saint-Domingue in 1687.
- 1697Treaty of Ryswick: Spain tacitly recognises French rule in western Hispaniola
The 1697 peace ending the Nine Years' War gives France title to the western third of Hispaniola, now called Saint-Domingue, though the treaty text does not name the island or fix a border.
- c. 1743Birth of Toussaint Louverture on a plantation near Cap-Français
Toussaint, later called Louverture, is born enslaved in Saint-Domingue, most likely on the Bréda plantation near Cap-Français. 20 May 1743 is the usual date, but it is uncertain.
- January 1758François Makandal is burned at Cap-Français after a poisoning scare in Saint-Domingue
Makandal, a maroon leader accused of leading a plot to poison planters, is executed at Cap-Français in January 1758. Colonists' fear of poisoning lasts until the Haitian Revolution; his survival became legend.
- c. 1776Toussaint Louverture is freed from slavery in Saint-Domingue
Between about 1772 and 1776 Toussaint gains his freedom while working on the Bréda plantation. Historians long thought he stayed enslaved until the revolution; records of 1776-77 show otherwise.
- June 3, 1777Treaty of Aranjuez fixes the border between Spanish Santo Domingo and French Saint-Domingue
Signed on 3 June 1777, the treaty settles the boundary left open since Ryswick (1697), set roughly where French settlements ended. It is the origin of the line between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
- c. 1780 – 1789Saint-Domingue becomes France's richest colony on sugar, coffee and enslaved labour
By the 1780s the colony supplies roughly 40 percent of Europe's sugar and more than half its coffee. About 500,000 enslaved Africans, around nine in ten inhabitants, work its plantations. Figures vary by source.
- October 1790Vincent Ogé leads a revolt of free people of color in Saint-Domingue
In October 1790 Vincent Ogé, a free man of color back from Paris, rises in the north of Saint-Domingue to demand equal political rights. He is defeated, handed over by the Spanish and executed at Le Cap in March 1791.
- August 1791Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman precedes the great slave uprising in Saint-Domingue
Enslaved leaders including Dutty Boukman and Cécile Fatiman are said to hold a Vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman in August 1791, usually dated 14 August, and swear to fight for liberty. Details rest on later accounts.
- August 1791Enslaved people rise across the Northern Plain of Saint-Domingue
In late August 1791 thousands of enslaved people burn plantations and kill planters across the north of Saint-Domingue around Le Cap, the start of the Haitian Revolution.
- April 4, 1792France's Legislative Assembly grants equal rights to free people of color
The decree of 4 April 1792 gives free men of color in the colonies full political and civil equality with whites. It is sent to Saint-Domingue with commissioners Sonthonax and Polverel and 6,000 troops.
- c. June 1793Toussaint Louverture joins the Spanish side against the French colonial government
In 1793 Toussaint follows rebel leaders Jean-François and Biassou into alliance with Spain, which holds the east of Hispaniola. Sources suggest early June; the date is not firm.
- August 1793Sonthonax proclaims the abolition of slavery in northern Saint-Domingue
Civil commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, facing revolt and foreign invasion, decrees the end of slavery in the north of Saint-Domingue in August 1793 without Paris's approval. Polverel soon does the same in the south and west.
- August 29, 1793Toussaint Louverture issues the Camp Turel proclamation
On 29 August 1793, the day Sonthonax decrees emancipation in the north, Toussaint calls on the Black population to join him as 'Louverture'. The name is first recorded about this time.
- May 1794Toussaint Louverture leaves the Spanish side and rallies to the French Republic
In May 1794, after the Convention's abolition decree, Toussaint Louverture turns his forces against Spain and Britain and joins France's side in Saint-Domingue. He rises to become the colony's leading general.
- July 22, 1795Treaty of Basel: Spain cedes Santo Domingo to France
On 22 July 1795 Spain makes peace with the French Republic and gives up the eastern part of Hispaniola in exchange for the Spanish territory France had occupied. The handover is delayed for years.
- 1796Toussaint Louverture rescues Governor Laveaux and becomes lieutenant governor
After Villatte's coup of 20 March 1796 seizes Governor Étienne Laveaux, Toussaint's troops free him. Laveaux names Toussaint lieutenant governor, making him the colony's second-ranking official.
- 1798Britain agrees with Toussaint Louverture to leave Saint-Domingue
After the Maitland-Louverture armistice of 30 March 1798 British troops evacuate their occupied zones on Saint-Domingue, ending a five-year intervention begun in 1793. Sources give August to October for the final departure.
- October 1798Toussaint Louverture forces French agent Hédouville to leave Saint-Domingue
In October 1798 Gabriel Hédouville, sent by Paris to curb Toussaint, sails for France after Toussaint and Dessalines threaten his arrest. Toussaint becomes the colony's effective ruler.
- June 1799 – July 1800Toussaint Louverture defeats André Rigaud in the War of the Knives
From June 1799 to July 1800 Toussaint's forces fight the mulatto general André Rigaud for control of the south of Saint-Domingue. Toussaint wins and becomes master of the whole French colony.
- 1801Toussaint Louverture takes Spanish Santo Domingo and unites the island
In 1801 Toussaint Louverture's army occupies Spanish Santo Domingo, ceded to France at Basel in 1795, freeing its slaves and making him ruler of all Hispaniola. Paris had not authorised the move.
- July 1801Toussaint Louverture promulgates a constitution making himself governor for life
A constitution proclaimed in July 1801 makes Saint-Domingue a self-governing French colony, bans slavery forever and names Toussaint Louverture governor for life. Napoleon sees it as a challenge to French authority.
- 1802French forces arrest Toussaint Louverture and deport him to France
In 1802 General Leclerc has Toussaint Louverture seized under Napoleon's secret orders and shipped to France with his family. He is jailed at Fort de Joux. Sources give May or June for the arrest.
- February 1802Napoleon's brother-in-law Leclerc lands a French army in Saint-Domingue
In early February 1802 General Charles Leclerc arrives at Saint-Domingue with a large expeditionary force sent by Napoleon to restore French control. Toussaint retreats to the mountains and war resumes.
- March 2, 1802 – March 24, 1802French army takes Crête-à-Pierrot from Dessalines after a three-week siege
From 2 to 24 March 1802 Dessalines's troops hold the fort against Leclerc's army. The French win at heavy cost, but the resistance weakens Leclerc, who is struck by yellow fever.
- May 1802Toussaint Louverture submits to Leclerc in return for an amnesty
In early May 1802, after Dessalines and other officers defect, Toussaint recognises Leclerc's authority and retires to his estate at Ennery. Sources give 2, 6 or 7 May.
- April 7, 1803Toussaint Louverture dies in captivity at Fort de Joux
Toussaint Louverture dies on 7 April 1803 in the French fortress of Fort de Joux near Besançon, probably of pneumonia and the harshness of his imprisonment. The war in Saint-Domingue goes on without him.
- November 18, 1803Haitian army defeats the French at the Battle of Vertières
On 18 November 1803 Jean-Jacques Dessalines's forces defeat Rochambeau's army at Vertières near Cap-Français, the last major battle of the revolution. The French evacuate soon after.
- January 1, 1804Dessalines declares the independence of Haiti at Gonaïves
On 1 January 1804 Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaims Saint-Domingue independent under the old Taíno name Haiti. It is the first state founded by a successful slave revolt and the second independent republic in the Americas.
- February 1804 – April 1804Dessalines orders the killing of the remaining French in Haiti
From February to April 1804 Dessalines has the French who stayed in Haiti killed, an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people. He exempts some groups, including Poles and Germans. It is defended as security against a French return.
- September 1804Dessalines is proclaimed Emperor Jacques I of Haiti
In September 1804 Dessalines's generals proclaim him emperor of Haiti, and he is crowned the following month. He is killed in an ambush in 1806.
- October 1806Dessalines is killed and Haiti divides into Christophe's north and Pétion's south
After the ambush of Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines in October 1806, Haiti splits in two: Henri Christophe rules the north and Alexandre Pétion heads a republic in the south and west. The division lasts until 1820.
- November 7, 1808Dominican rebels defeat the French at Palo Hincado, east of Santo Domingo
On 7 November 1808 Juan Sánchez Ramírez's rebels, supported by Puerto Rico and British Jamaica, beat General Ferrand's French army at Palo Hincado. The victory opens the siege of Santo Domingo and the return of Spanish rule.
- July 1809French garrison surrenders Santo Domingo and Spanish rule returns
In July 1809, after a siege helped by a British blockade, the French garrison leaves Santo Domingo and Spain recovers its colony. The following period of neglect is remembered as the 'España Boba' (foolish Spain).
- 1821 – February 9, 1822Núñez de Cáceres declares the independent Republic of Spanish Haiti
In late 1821 (30 November or 1 December) José Núñez de Cáceres declares Spanish Santo Domingo independent from Spain, intending to join Gran Colombia. It has little support and falls to Haiti on 9 February 1822.
- February 9, 1822Haitian president Boyer takes Santo Domingo and rules the whole island
On 9 February 1822 Jean-Pierre Boyer enters Santo Domingo with some 10,000-12,000 troops, uniting Hispaniola under Haiti and ending slavery in the east. The occupation lasts 22 years.
- July 16, 1838Juan Pablo Duarte founds La Trinitaria, a secret society for Dominican independence
On 16 July 1838 Duarte and friends in Santo Domingo form La Trinitaria, a secret society working in three-person cells for independence from Haitian rule. Its members go on to lead the 1844 revolt.
- March 1843Boyer is overthrown in Haiti and goes into exile
In March 1843 a liberal revolt forces Jean-Pierre Boyer out of Haiti after 25 years in power; Charles Hérard takes over. The turmoil gives the Dominican independence movement the opening it needs.
- February 27, 1844Dominican patriots declare independence from Haiti in Santo Domingo
On the night of 27 February 1844 Mella, Sánchez and Duarte's Trinitarios proclaim a separate state in the east of Hispaniola, ending 22 years of Haitian rule. The Dominican Republic is born.
- March 19, 1844 – March 30, 1844Dominican forces defeat Haitian armies at Azua and Santiago
In March 1844 Pedro Santana's troops repel a Haitian column at Azua (19 March), and José María Imbert's heavily outnumbered garrison beats Jean-Louis Pierrot's army at Santiago (30 March). The victories secure the newly declared Dominican Republic.
- April 1849Santana defeats Emperor Soulouque's invading Haitian army at Las Carreras
In April 1849 Pedro Santana defeats the Haitian army led in person by Emperor Faustin Soulouque in a two-day battle near Azua, the main Dominican victory between the 1844 battles and the last Haitian invasion of 1855-1856.
- December 1855 – January 1856Dominican troops defeat Haiti’s 1855–1856 invasion at Santomé and Sabana Larga
Dominican troops defeat the Haitian southern column at Santomé (22 December 1855), killing General Antoine Pierrot, and a larger Haitian army near Dajabón at Sabana Larga (27 January 1856).
- March 18, 1861Pedro Santana announces the Dominican Republic's return to Spanish rule
On 18 March 1861 the annexation of the Dominican Republic to Spain is announced under President Pedro Santana. Historians debate whether it was a return to Spanish rule or an annexation; it lasts until 1865.
- August 16, 1863Dominican rebels cross the border from Haiti and rise against Spain
On 16 August 1863 a group led by Santiago Rodríguez raises the flag of revolt at Capotillo. The Restoration War follows, with guerrilla fighting that costs Spain thousands of men, many to disease.
- March 3, 1865 – July 1865Spain annuls the annexation of Santo Domingo and withdraws its troops
Queen Isabella II signs the annulment of the annexation on 3 March 1865, after the US Civil War ended and four years of costly guerrilla war. The last Spanish troops leave by mid-July 1865.
- November 29, 1869Báez signs a treaty to annex the Dominican Republic to the United States
On 29 November 1869 President Buenaventura Báez signs annexation and Samaná Bay lease treaties backed by US president Ulysses S. Grant. A referendum in early 1870 shows about 10,000 votes for and 11 against, and is widely regarded as unreliable.
- June 30, 1870The US Senate defeats the treaty to annex Santo Domingo
On 30 June 1870 the Senate votes 28 to 28, short of the two-thirds needed, after Charles Sumner's opposition as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. Grant's plan to annex the Dominican Republic fails.
- 1888Heureaux borrows from the Amsterdam bank Westendorp, tying Dominican customs revenue to creditors
In 1888 the dictator Ulises Heureaux takes a loan of about £750,000 from Westendorp & Co. After Westendorp's bankruptcy in 1892, New York's San Domingo Improvement Company takes over the claims, with a lien on customs revenue.
- July 26, 1899Dictator Ulises Heureaux is assassinated in Moca, leaving the Dominican Republic in debt
Ramón Cáceres shoots Heureaux on 26 July 1899 during a revolt by Cibao planters and merchants. The state's debt exceeds $35 million, and unpaid foreign creditors become the pretext for later US intervention.
- 1905 – March 31, 1941The United States takes over Dominican customs to repay foreign creditors
After the Roosevelt Corollary of December 1904, a US-appointed receiver collects the Dominican customs from 1905, with a 1907 treaty and a 1924 convention extending it. It ends on 31 March 1941 under the Trujillo-Hull convention.
- May 1916 – September 18, 1924United States Marines occupy Santo Domingo, beginning an eight-year occupation
In May 1916 US forces land and take Santo Domingo, and a military government follows in November. Aims include forcing repayment of debts to European creditors. The Marines withdraw on 18 September 1924.
- 1930Rafael Trujillo seizes power in the Dominican Republic
In 1930 an uprising against President Horacio Vásquez, begun in Santiago in February, brings Rafael Trujillo to power; sources differ on the exact dates. He rules the country until his assassination in 1961.
- October 2, 1937 – October 8, 1937Trujillo's army massacres Haitians along the Dominican border
From 2 to 8 October 1937, on Trujillo’s orders, the Dominican army kills Haitians in the border region. Estimates range from about 14,000 to 40,000 dead, and scholars generally settle on roughly 20,000.
- January 31, 1938Trujillo agrees to pay Haiti $525,000 for the 1937 massacre
The agreement signed in Washington on 31 January 1938 gives Haiti $525,000, about $30 a victim, against a US and Haitian demand for $750,000. The Dominican government accepts no responsibility for the deaths.
- May 30, 1961Rafael Trujillo is assassinated outside Ciudad Trujillo
On 30 May 1961 a group of conspirators ambush Trujillo's car outside the capital, now Santo Domingo. The regime holds on for months under his son Ramfis, and the CIA's part in supplying weapons is disputed.