Tug of War and False Independence

                 The abolishment of freedom by Toussaint left a bitter taste in many of the dominican plantation owners and other since the Dominican population consisted mostly of mixed race, white, and spanish groups. Therefore they aided the Europeans in ousting the Haitians since they did not like the idea of being governed by a black man, Toussaint.
               Soon after the spanish wanted to regain control of Santo Domingo and annihilated french forces in the war of reconquest and slavery was reestablished.Although the Dominicans did not wanted to be governed by toussaint they did not want to be governed by the spanish either and they wanted their independence. When France made several attempts to regain Haiti, as a precaution the then haitian president Jean Pierre Boyer decided for strategic reason that he needed to secure the whole island of hispaniola so that it would not falter or provided an entrance point for European forces. Therefore he came in and annexed it which was the beginning of Santo Domingo becoming a republic. In 1844, the Dominican Republic became independent.
                Within 20 years, their short lived independence ended when the Dominican republic was returned to Spain because the country had become bankrupt.This was ill-recieved by the inhabitants of the island resulting in a revolt by rebels which eventually caused the Spanish to retreat from the island. Then the Dominican republic is proclaimed independent for a second time.
                The dominican republic went through a back and forth tussle of being independent and then being occupied by another country. Alot of this was due to strategic reasons as far as the hatian occupation was concerned and on the spanish side of it the reasons were colonual and economic. After they were declared independent for the first time the president turned them back over to the Spanish because of financial debts. Although they were officially independent the second time, because of their debt, they were still occupied by the U.S. for 50 years. It took over 60 years for the Dominican republic to be truly independent from outside rule which was not the case in its neighboring country Haiti. In the end the inhabitants of the dominican republic wanted to be independent but even after decolonialization they were still occupied by other countries which was not what the dominicans wanted, all because of financial issues and debt which they were placed in after becoming independent from Spain.


Moya, Pons Frank. The Dominican Republic: a National History. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 1998. Print

Carnaval Dominicano: Carnival depicting the history of slavery and sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic

Deep Rooted Issues Between Haiti and Dominican Republic Still Exist

Haiti and the Dominican Republic:An Island divided

One of the main causes of issues between dominicanos and hatians: the hatian massacre led by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.

The Cultivation of Sugarcane Still a Big Business in Dominican Republic

The Fight to Sustain Freedom in Santo Domingo

         

     Hatian Revolutionary, Toussaint, abolished slavery in Santo Domingo when he had gained control of the island after all of Hispaniola came under French rule. He was focused on unifying the island to make sure that slavery stayed abolished throughout the entire island and to eliminate an advantageous location that the europeans could attack Haiti from. Although slavery was abolished in many cases the landowners would move to another colony with their slaves One of the problems he had with unifying the island was that even though technically the island was under french rule many of the people still considered themselves Spanish.Their national solidarity and way of life had already been established.

             Before the first abolishment of slavery the majority of people who lived on Santo Domingo relied on a livestock and subsistence agriculture based economy instead of the tobacco and sugar plantations on the other Caribbean islands. In efforts to improve the economy and to increase the wealth of the once spanish colony, Toussaint took steps to reform the agricultural system and the working habits of the people of Santo Domingo. He issued a number of limitations placed on the lands a new proprietor could be granted. According to Frank, "Toussaint ordered the inhabitants to work on lands already settled since it would be imprudent to start new settlements while the old ones decayed". Drawing from his experience in Haiti, he then wanted the landowners to produce the most profitable crops in the caribbean such as sugar, coffee, and tobacco for export.

             Therefore freedom for the slaves who lived on Santo Domingo meant that they would go from growing crops simply for subsistence and would be forced to work on these new sugar and coffee plantations. The slaves were faced with doing even more work than they had been doing before when they were supposed to be free just so that Santo Domingo could also compete in the world market and profit. As a result many slaves felt that that were back in slavery and that the forced work on the new plantations replaced slavery. As a result slave support for Toussaint had been weakened.

            Due to the fact that most of the population of Santo Domingo was creole, spanish, then black, when the French came to invade Santo Domingo many of them supported the french as they had not been too keen on the idea of receving orders from a black governor. The demographic of Santo Domingo also correlated with the majority of the spanish colonists supporting the notion of slavery and their support of the french against Tousaint and his army. In addition, slavery was resestablished in Santo domingo and then abolished again. The idea of freedom was uncertain when it came to the slaves and constantly changing as the colony was passed between france, spain, and later Haiti. Many of the colonists who had slaves fled to places such as Philadelphia where instead of being slaves, men, women, and children alike were signed on for the maximum number of years as indentured servants. The difference between the adults and the children was that the children could serve several periods of indentured servitude.

            Although after Santo Domingo gained independence they were able to sustainably and permanently abolish slavery, before doing so freedom was viewed as uncertain and fragile to the slaves. Even when slavery was abolished the first time the slaves were ordered to do more than they had been doing before they had attained their "freedom". Also, slaves were faced with becoming slaves again in the War of reconquest and becoming indentured servants on other colonies. Therefore freedom was not yet grasped and fully experienced by many Santo Domingo slaves until after a series of conquests and invasions.

Dunbar, Erica Armstrong. A Fragile Freedom: African American Women and Emancipation in the Antebellum City. New Haven: Yale UP, 2008. Print.

Moya, Pons Frank. The Dominican Republic: a National History. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 1998. Print.

The Journey to Make Slavery an Idea of the Past

            The effects of the French and Hatian Revolution rippled throughout all of Hispaniola and were experienced by colonists and slaves in Santo Domingo in that it led to the abolishment of slavery in Santo domingo as well as Haiti. In response to the French revolution, Spanish commanders helped slave rebels such as Toussaint in their fight against the french because they figured they would be able to get their lands back from the French. What actually happened was the slave rebels turned and fought against them in the name of France after slavery was abolished in Haiti.

              The end result of all of the Spanish and french conflict during this time was the Treaty of Basel which stated that Spanish had to give up Santo Domingo to the French and had a year to do so and could move to Havana. Since many of the Spanish colonists and religious leaders had property and revenues tied up in santo Domingo, they were very reluctant to leave and were further deterred from leaving upon hearing about how bad others were doing in Havana. In contrast, the Spanish did not agree with the french on the topic of slavery. According to Frank Pons, "The spanish knew that in December 1795 Governor Laveaux had declared the slaves found in the spanish colonies would be freed". This still did not speed up their delivery of Santo Domingo to the french.

            This resulted in Toussaint leading an army to push the spanish out of Santo Domingo so that the island could be united under french rule and in february 1801, the french flag replaced the spanish one. Then Toussaint completely abolished slavery across all of Hispaniola and took steps to solidify the union between santo domingo and saint domingue. In 1802, Napoleon sent french generals to oust Toussaint's troops and reinstitute slavery in Santo Domingo with the support of spaniards and creoles. This french rule of Santo Domingo lasted for some time, then eventually Haiti invaded Santo Domingo and abolished slavery once again.

            In conclusion, the main driving forces behind the end of slavery in Santo Domingo was the french revolution, Toussaint's vision to abolish slavery and untie the island, and the Hatian Revolution because of the strategic access Santo Domingo could give to european forces against Haiti. The Spanish did not want to end slavery in Santo Domingo and attempted to reinstate it several times, even going so far as helping the french to do so. In the end Hatian involvement abolished slavery in Santo Domingo.





Moya, Pons Frank. The Dominican Republic: a National History. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 2010. Print.

Geggus, David Patrick. "Haitian Revolutionary Studies - David Patrick Geggus." Google Books. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://books.google.com/books?id=BAy4XwFE3AsC>.

The Hatian Revolution's Effect on Santo Domingo

               Due to the fact that Saint Domingue and Santo Domingo both shared the island of Hispaniola, the events of one of the colonies many times directly affected the other. Therefore in order to fully assess the Hatian Revolution's effect in Santo Domingo, one must delve back into the history of Hispaniola.

               Hispaniola was first colonized by Spain when Christopher Columbus arrived on the island which was inhabited by the native Tainos. Then the Tainos and some poor europeans were put to work in the gold mines. Soon after Spain utilized African slaves for labor since the Taino were dying in dramatic numbers due to disease and harsh conditions. Eventually the supplies of gold were being depleted which cause the worth of the island to the Spanish to diminish. Meanwhile, French buccaneers began to inhabit the northwest part of Hispaniola which was Tortuga and eventually began to colonize the western part of hispaniola, Since the Spainish's power was on a decline, the signed the Treaty of Ryswick which officially divided the island of hispaniola between the french (saint domingue) and spanish (santo domingo). Santo Domingo started off as a very profitable island but when the spanish lost interest in it, Saint Domingue rose as the most profitable Caribbean island because of its huge cultivation of sugar, cotton, and tobacco by the use of African slave and taino labor. Therefore slavery was the turning wheel and driving force behind the wealth of the island. The slaves worked day in and out under cruel and sick conditions they faced on the plantations. they were seen as property and nothing more. Many died, had deformities, or had faced cruel and harsh punishment while in slavery such as branding, cutting of one's foot or hamstring, whipping, sexual abuse, splitting up of families, and gelding. There was also a caste system and ranking due to skin color, freedom, heredity,religion, and race

                Therefore there were many slave revolts, espcially after the french revolution in France. Many slaves felt that they should also recieve liberte, egalite, and fraternite even though the Europeans did not even see the slaves as people. The Hatians, led by toussaint, fought for their freedom and slavery was eventually abolished. According to allempires, Toussaint led the fight for independence of saint domingue from the french and was succeeded by Dessalines. After Haiti became independent from the french they wanted to make sure that the europeans would not be able to colonize Haiti again so in order to ensure this they took over the whole island. This did not go over well with the Spanish who returned and brought Santo Domingo back under spanish rule. Then the spaniards tried to re establush slavery in santo domingo, while trying to bring hatians there to work as slaves, but the Hatian government took control of santo domingo again and abolished slavery on the whole island of hispaniola. The dominicans wanted their independence as well so they resisted the Hatians and offically became independent in 1844 and was then named the la republica dominicana.

                  Santo Domingo was directly affected by the Haitian revolution in that they were numerously taken control of by the french, Haiti, and the Spanish during that time. At first, Toussaint took over santo domingo under the name of the french, then the spanish took it back, then it was put under the rule of Haiti several times once they were independent in order to ensure their indepedence and to prevent the isle from having anymore slavery but the Spanish outsted them and tried to reestablish slavery only to be fought by Haiti again. Even though slavery was abolished, the rule of Santo Domingo constantly switched hands and they were never officially independent until 1844, 40 years after Haiti became independent. This also caused a rift in Haitian and Dominican relations due to events such as Haiti's constant attempts to rule Dominican Republic, the spanish trying to reestablish slavery, bringing hatians to Santo Domingo to work as slaves, and also the hatian massacre which occured years later by Dominican dictator Trujillo.

"Dominican Republic History by Hispaniola.com." Dominican Republic Travel Guide. Web. 06 Nov. 2011. http://www.hispaniola.com/dominican_republic/info/history.php.

"The Conflict Between Haiti and the Dominican Republic - All Empires." Web. 06 Nov. 2011. <http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=conflict_haiti_dominican>.

The Property of Another Only on Paper

Born in the Caribbean I have never experienced life outside of this prison called slavery and can only imagine the free way of life that the other slaves from Africa speak of and were ripped from. Free Life. Both words seem interchangeable in that one cannot truly live unless they are free, but my life has taught me that the two do not go hand in hand. The effects of slavery and becoming the property of another are more than physical. Deep wounds are inflicted upon me daily, not all of them visible. I have a husband and two children. My husband was sold away to the highest bidder 3 months ago leaving me with our two children. Even though this is something that happened often on plantations, it didn’t lessen the pain or stabbing in my heart whenever I think of it.

 One would think that with all the mental, physical, and emotional pain that slaves withstand in their daily life that we would grow immune to it but it hurts just the same. It hurt knowing that my children, in reality, are not really mine and could be sold away at any time the master saw fit. If the master felt that they should be punished then I had no say as their mother. It does something to a woman to know that she has no real control over the beings which she bore; creates a sense of helplessness. Watching my children constantly being beaten until the brink of death with my tears being the only way I can respond.  Then I would constantly be chastised and abused in front of my children, like I myself am a child. Being at the beck and call of the slave master’s children while they call me girl or by my first name is something, though degrading, a slave has to get used to and accept.   I am a domestic servant with duties such as taking care of the master’s children, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and anything else my master or mistress felt I needed to do. They were to all be done right in every way or I could risk severe punishment. The field slaves saw us domestic servants as a separate entity though we all are the same. Only if they knew of the horrors some of us women face at night they wouldn’t think us so lucky. How hardened must your heart be that you could see other human beings as objects and could be so hateful and cruel to them?

Being in this constant nightmare had become a way of life for many, but I will always hope one day to be free. For others fear may be a temporary state of mind. For slaves it becomes a way of survival and so in grained in us that it influences many of our actions and thoughts until it possibly consumes us. I am tired of feeling helpless and in fear. Fear that if my master is having a bad day he could whip or kill my children or I at any moment. Fear that I could be separated from my children at any time seeing as that I have already been separated from my husband.  Fear that my master will rape or sexually abuse me, because we live in the same house and he sees me as his property; an object that is there to satisfy and work for him. Fearful that one day I grow too weary to do my work to the standards of my master and could be beaten or made an example out of. Fear of doing anything to offend or anger my master or mistress, then feeling helpless because I have no control of it all. This is why I will keep hope of one day my children and I becoming free from slavery and fear and gaining some type of control in our lives. Until then I will continue to work to keep my heart pure in a world so full of hate. On paper I am the property of my owner, but something no one can ever beat out of me or change is that he can never truly own me.

Inspired by Mary Prince

The Success and Failure of the Spanish Economy and Slave Trade

                Slavery. The concept of a people being treated and viewed as property to be traded and controlled. Slavery was seen as the most efficient way of getting things done and a booster of the economy during the Atlantic Slave trade. The first peoples to work as slaves for the Spanish in Santo Domingo were the Taino natives and Europeans many of whom had committed crimes.  Once Christopher Columbus witnessed the gold and riches of the Caribbean island, the Spanish raced to establish gold mines and needed laborers to work in these mines. Therefore they turned to poor Europeans and the Taino, who were natives of Santo Domingo. At first the time that these people had to work in these mines was temporary, but eventually they became slaves.

                 The Spanish soon realized that the mortality rate of the Tainos was rapidly increasing, therefore they needed to find an alternative thus turning toward the Atlantic Slave Trade and made Santo Domingo the first country in the Americas to have African slaves.   In 1551, 5,000 slaves were sent to Santo Domingo to replace the Taino slaves who were dying at drastic amounts from disease, starvation, and the harsh conditions of working in the gold mines.  The African slaves were seen as more apt to withstand the harsh conditions of slavery and the environment of the island. According to Anti- Slavery.org, “the African slaves played a central role in the construction of the Santo Domingo. The buildings developed off the back of African enslavement included the Americas oldest Cathedral, its first nunnery, first hospital and the Alcazar.” Although Santo Domingo was not a plantation driven country there were still many slaves that worked on sugar plantations. Thus slaves were a vital part of Santo Domingo’s development and economy.

                 Being the first country in the Americas to have slaves one would think that Santo Domingo would have been the most active participant, leading innovator, and great beneficiary from the Atlantic slave trade; however this was not the case. Whether it was because of their idealism or Catholicism, the Spanish codes in the treatment of slaves and the proposed rights of slaves were very different in contrast to the British and French colonies, resulting in a smaller slave population in comparison to the other colonies. Although the Spanish saw the Africans as slaves, buying and selling them they still saw them more as moral beings, as humans rather than just cargo or assets. Therefore slaves in Spanish colonies could go to court against their masters if they were too cruel and they could eventually buy their freedom resulting in a larger freed population than many other European colonies. Therefore slavery did not become as prominent in Santo Domingo as it was in the other colonies. Any benefits Santo Domingo gained from slavery immediately ceased when the slaves in Haiti revolted causing Haitian revolution took place. Even though it had happened in Haiti, with its close proximity to Santo Domingo the ending of slavery swept the entire island of Hispaniola.

                     In conclusion, although Santo Domingo was the first island to have African slaves its correlation with the Atlantic slave trade slowly started to diminish over time. Also, slaves in Santo Domingo had rights which were not granted to slaves in other European colonies. Nonetheless slavery is still an ugly blemish stained on the history of Santo Domingo and included Europeans, Tainos, and Africans alike.

"Slave Routes - Americas and Carabbean." Anti-Slavery Homepage. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. http://old.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence/slave_routes/slave_routes_dominicanrepublic.shtml.

"Dominican Republic History: 1492-1821." Dominican Republic News & Travel Information Service. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://dr1.com/articles/history.shtml>.

Religion in the Dominican Republic

                  Religion proves to have been an important aspect in the lifestyle and culture of the Dominican Republic. Although there are many different groups of people the main religion which unites the people of the island is Roman Catholicism and it became the official religion of the Dominican Republic in 1844 according to Isabel. Due to the fact that the Dominican Republic was colonized by Spain where Roman Catholicism is the dominating religion, many of the Taino, Caribs, and African slaves who lived there were also converted to Catholicism. There were also small populations of people who practiced other religions taught to the by other Europeans such as Judaism, Protestantism, Jehovah Witness, Mormon, Evangelism, and Adventism. In retrospect there were also people who practiced African religions such as Voodoo, which was more Haitian influenced and Gaga, which was more Dominican influenced.

                When many of the explorers, priests, monks, and colonists came to the Dominican Republic they saw it fit to convert the natives of the Dominican Republic through the use of convents. According to Isabel, “Their primary objective was to convert the sons of the caciques (Indian chiefs) to Christianity, thus inculcating western European culture among the Indians” (p.70).  I believe they targeted the sons because they would be considered the future leaders of their tribe and the father was probably already set in his ways.  Whereas the younger sons could be more easily influenced and susceptible to the teachings of Christianity offered to them by the Europeans.  Catholicism was so dominant that the first mass that occurred in the Americas was held in the Dominican Republic and it was intertwined into the lifestyle of the Dominicans. Funerals would consist of nine masses and there were many Catholic celebrations and Carnivals which were greatly participated in by most of the inhabitants of the Dominican Republic. Although Catholicism was the main religion of the Dominican republic there were still some native converts that represented the other religions such as Judaism, Protestantism, Jehovah witness, Mormon, evangelism, Adventism, adding to the unique culturally diverse aspects of the Dominican Republic even in categories such as religion.

                 Although many of the natives and African slaves were converted to Christianity by the Europeans, there were still a good amount that continued to practice their original and some African religions. The central aspect of the belief system of the Taino was the cemi which represented mystical divinities. They believed in keeping the spirits of the dead satisfied and the main religious ceremony was the cohoba where vomiting and inhaling hallucinogenic drugs was the way to communicate with the cemi, according to Isabel. An African based and Haitian associated religion which invoked fear in many was voodoo.  According to Isabel, Voodoo is a religion which consists of myths from African tribes and draws on some aspects of Christianity. Gaga is almost the same as voodoo except its Dominican based and the Spirits are called lua instead of loas. What is unique about gaga is that the people who practiced this faith were also considered Catholic. In fact there were many aspects of Catholicism that they were able to relate back to gaga.

                 This creates many similarities between the people discussed in Rebecca’s Revival and the natives and African slaves of the Dominican republic because they both had many people who were converted to Christianity and other European based religions by the Europeans while still having some who continued to practice their original faiths and some who practiced a mixture of the two or several. Both peoples also had syncretism and used religion as a means to learn to read and write and to give hope inspiring the want for change.

Brown, Isabel Zakrzewski. "Religion." Culture and Customs of the Dominican Republic. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999. 69-77. Print.

Annual Report, International Religious Freedom 1999, Report Submitted to the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate by the Department of State in Accordance with Section 102 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2000

The Beginning of the Dominican Republic and Hispaniola: An Island Divided

          

           Before being divided into two nations, which we now know as Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the island on which those two nations now reside was once known as Hispaniola. Dating back to over 3,000 B.C. Hispaniola was first settled by a group of people which called themselves the Taino. They migrated from South America to many of the other Caribbean islands as well causing them to have great influence in these areas. That is until 1492 when Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean looking for India and Asia but instead he landed on the island of Hispaniola. Assuming that he was in India, he called the Tainos Indians.

            Columbus explored the island of Hispaniola and was instantly fascinated by its people, their practices, and their way of life. Some of the inventions that were used in Europe, he was shocked to learn that the Taino knew nothing about, such as the wheel. He also observed that the Taino had several gold artifacts and treated gold as it had no real worth. Prompted by his great interest in the gold, he recounted what he had seen to Spain thereby causing Spain to permanently settle on one side of Hispaniola. The settlement was named Santo Domingo. This led to Spain capitalizing on the gold and natural resources in Santo Domingo. Also, Columbus exploited the Taino people and the land by making the Taino work as slaves mining for gold and other resources.

       

         The Europeans brought diseases with them to Santo Domingo, of which the Taino had never been exposed so they had no immunity to them. In addition, the Taino were not given much food, so they also had to battle starvation. Therefore they started dying in drastic numbers similar to a plague. According to Frank Pons, in the 1508 census out of the original 400,000 Taino people only 60,000 survived. As a solution to their dilemma, the Europeans resorted to transporting Africans to Hispaniola to work as slaves.

            Soon after the French moved into Hispaniola and began creating settlements, causing conflict between France and Spain. This conflict was not settled until the Treaty of Ryswick which established the division of Hispaniola into two nations: the French controlled nation Saint Domingue (Haiti) and the Spanish controlled nation Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).

           Following the Haitian slave revolt against the French in 1791, Santo Domingo declared independent from Spain. The Haitian Government took advantage of this and ruled Santo Domingo for 21 years causing issues between both nations, according to Susan Haberle. In 1844, Santo Domingo overthrew the Haitian government and was finally free from foreign control.

                 In this popular account of the settlement of the Dominican Republic, the heroes and villains vary usually according to if it was from the perspective of a European, a Taino, or an unbiased person. Usually from a European perspective, the villains would be the “Indians” for trying to fight against the Spanish colonialists and the hero would be Christopher Columbus for “discovering” the island of Hispaniola. From the Taino perspective the villains would be the Europeans who came and took their land, spreading diseases, killing their people, and enslaving them and the Africans. The heroes would be Francisco Del Rosario Sanchez and Ramon Mella for overthrowing Haitian rule which led to it becoming a republic. It depends on how it is examined and  interpreted.  From what you have read why don’t you judge for yourself?

Haberle, Susan. (2004). Dominican Republic. Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone Press. Retrieved September 3, 2011, from http://books.google.com/books?id=BcnxYUHLMOUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=dominican+republic&hl=en&ei=j5xjTsTXJarW0QGxj8X8CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
Pons Moya, Frank. (1998). The Dominican Republic: A National History. Princeton, New Jersey: Markus Wiener Publishers inc. Retrieved September 3, 2011, from http://books.google.com/books?id=8BfRF9B02kgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=dominican+republic&hl=en&ei=lJ1jTvKBDYG80AHH1JCOCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false