Tainos pottery

At the beginning of the Dominican History were the Tainos, which were one of the most advanced civilizations of the Antilles. The native Tainos were a very pacific population, when the Europeans arrived in 1492, the count from the Dominican republic of this population was more or less one million habitants divided into 5 tribes.

the tainos had a very advanced technology, they revealed themself to be great cultivators and fisherman whom lived near rivers and the coast line, when we see their sculptures, numerous paintings and their pottery they left behind we can see they also were artists.

The Discovery of Hispaniola

When Christopher Columbus discovered the island on the 5 of December 1492 he called her "Hispañola" in tribute for the country that paid his expedition. He founded the first colony, when he came back for the second time with more than 1500 man including priests to convert the natives into christians.

The Spanish radically changed the lives on the island for ever, in 1520 the slavery and the diseases, the population of the tainos is almost erased their were only remaining thousands from 1 to 2 millions before in all of the caribbean.

In 1511, the Spanish start to import African labour which had to face the exhaustion of the native population. The church is made for converting all these new come Africans with Christianity.

In the following 3 centuries a cruel society was installed, founded to the separation on classes and slavery, the Portuguese, Hollands, English and the french came to participate in the slavery market.

General
Dessalines

In the XVIII Century, Hispaniola passed on to be French after the maritian wars which took place in the Antilles. the "Whites" reigned as masters of the island until the revolt in 1791. In 1793 the abolition of slavery was declared. In 1804 general Dessalines (before slave) published the Independence and the first Black Republic was born in history Haiti.
In 1809, the Spanish crushed the Haitian army and recovered the island.

Nagua

Thanks to Rosario Sanchez, Ramon Mella and Juan Pablo Duarte the Dominican Republic is created in 1844. The United states of America became intrested in the island and is occupied in 1916 by the north American military.

In the middle of the world war, the Dominican sugar was found to be vital. In 1924, the north American soldiers withdrawl themselves from the island and in 1930 Trujillo seizes the power as a dictator and founds a reign of terror during 30 years.The Americans return again in 1965 during the cold war because of fear that the country does not sink in Communism.

since then the Dominican republic is a democratic republic near to the United States. the actual President of the Dominican Republic is Leonel Fernandez of the Partido Liberal Dominicano (Dominican Liberal Party).