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Saturday, February 28, 2015

Dominican Republic, Cool Facts #15

14. Cuba <=                                                                                                              => 16. El Salvador 


1. The brother of Columbus founded Santo Domingo

In 1496 Bartolomeo, the brother of Christopher Columbus founded the first Spanish city at the island, Santo Domingo. It became an important base of the New World. Columbus named the island La Española which was then called Hispaniola later. It is said that the tomb of Columbus is supposedly in Santo Domingo.



2. The West Side and East Side of Hispaniola island

There are like two different worlds inside one small island. Haiti is in the west side and the Dominican Republic in the east side of the island. Crossing the border is like going from Africa to Latin America, the culture is so different. Why ? The country was first under Spain's control, but France conquered the island in one point and expanded its influence in the island of Hispaniola. Dominican Republic became independent but Haiti attempted many times to conquer it. This created two poles to the island, one which was under French influence and the other with Spanish influence.



3. The Perejil Massacre

In 1937 Rafael Trujillo ordered the army to eliminate the black Haitians. The army soldiers distinguished the black Haitians from the local people by asking them to pronounce the word "perejil" which means parsley. The French and Creole speaking Haitians weren't able to pronounce the "r". Those who couldn't pronounce the word were massacred.



4. The Unique Flag of Dominican Republic

There are two reasons why it's very unique. First, it's very unique to have the Bible in the coat-of-arms of the flag. Second, it's very rare to have a cross like this in a flag outside of Scandinavia. The colors originate from Haiti's flag, which is Dominican Republic's previous conquerer.



5. Dictator Trujillo

During his presidency Rafael Trujillo renamed Santo Domingo as Ciudad Trujillo and the country's highest mountain top Pico Duarte was renamed as Pico Trujillo. Trujillo was a dictator and he performed massacres but he was supported by the local elite and USA. At the end he was assassinated in 1961.



Dominican Republic is famous for:

Merengue
Wind-surfing
Beautiful beaches
Baseball



Timeline

1492 Christopher Columbus visited the island of Hispaniola
1496 Bartolomeo, the brother of Christopher Columbus, establishes the city of Santo Domingo
1697 France got 1/3 of the island, the western part which is the current Haiti
1795 France conquers the whole island
early 1800s The slaves win the rebellion and declare Haiti independent
1808 The Spanish with the aid of the british gain the power back
1821 Spanish Haiti becomes independent with their leader Jose Nunez de Caseres but becomes conquered by Haiti after 9 weeks
1844 Santo Domingo becomes Dominican Republic and declares independence again
1861-65 Under Spanish power because of Haiti's several conquest attempts
1865 Buenaventura Baez begins the era of unstable governments
1930 Corrupt dictator Rafael Trujillo as president, supported by the local elite and USA
1961 Trujillo gets assasinated
1965 USA invasion because of the Cuban revolution
1996 Leonel Fernandez replaces the autoritarian president Joaquin Balaguer. During Fernandez's terms the country has developed a lot

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic
Maailman liput maat ja historia - Kimmo Kiljunen 

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