formerly ESPAÑOLA, second largest island of the West Indies, within the Greater Antilles. It is divided politically into the Republic of Haiti (west) and the Dominican Republic (east). The island's area is 29,418 square miles (76,192 square km); its greatest length is nearly 400 miles (650 km), and its width is 150 miles (241 km). There are relatively few offshore islands, the most notable being Gonâve Island and Tortuga Island. Christopher Columbus landed on the island in 1492 and named it La Isla Española, which was supposedly Anglicized to Hispaniola. During Spanish colonial times it was commonly called Santo Domingo (English: San Domingo), after the capital city, and this name is still sometimes used. The entire island has also been referred to as Haiti, supposed by some to be the precolonial name used by aboriginal Indians (Arawaks), who also called it Quisqueya. The island's position on the northern flank of the Caribbean Sea provided an excellent location for control of Spanish expansion to Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and South America during the early colonial period.

Haiti

The land

Flag & Map

Haiti's Flag

Dominican Republic's Flag

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History of the island from the time of the landing of Christopher Columbus, in 1492, to the present.

Christopher Columbus sighted the island that now includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Dec. 6, 1492, and named it La Isla Española. By the end of the 16th century, most of the island's original Arawak Indian population had disappeared from conquest or warfare or by being worked to death or killed by disease. Spanish settlement was thin and restricted mainly to the eastern end of the island; French pirates, based in Tortuga and other islands, had an almost unimpeded run of the western end. The pirates began to establish plantations there; in 1664 they founded Port-de-Paix in the northwest, and the French West India Company took possession.

The French colonial regime

In 1697, by the Treaty of Rijswijk, the western third of the island was formally ceded to France by Spain and was renamed Saint-Domingue.

Saint-Domingue's population increased greatly during the 18th century. It became the most prosperous New World colony, exporting sugar, coffee, cocoa, indigo, and cotton cultivated by African slave labour. By 1789 nearly two-thirds of France's foreign investments were based on Saint-Domingue, and in a good year its trade needed more than 700 oceangoing vessels.

Saint-Domingue had a population in 1789 of 556,000; of this, 500,000 were black slaves, 32,000 were whites, and 24,000 were free blacks. On Aug. 24, 1791, stimulated by the French Revolution, the slaves rose in rebellion. In order to maintain the island as a French possession, slavery was abolished in 1794. In 1795, by the Treaty of Basel, Spain ceded the rest of the island to France, but war in Europe precluded the actual transfer of possession.

In May 1801 Toussaint-Louverture, a former slave, became governor-general, but he would not declare the colony independent. Napoleon sent his brother-in-law, General Charles Leclerc, with an experienced force, including several mulatto officers in exile from Saint-Domingue, to restore the old regime. After several months of struggle against Leclerc's forces, in May 1802 Toussaint came to terms with the French expedition. The French, however, broke the arrangement and imprisoned him in France. He died on April 7, 1803.

In the face of a rumour that Napoleon intended to restore slavery in Saint-Domingue as he had done in other French possessions, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry Christophe led a black army against the French in 1802. The French commander and a large part of his army were defeated, and on Nov. 9, 1803, the remnant of the French expedition, under the Viscount de Rochambeau, surrendered. Under the armistice signed on November 18, the French withdrew, but they maintained a presence in the eastern part of the island until 1809.

Independent Haiti (1804-1957)

On Jan. 1, 1804, the entire island was declared independent under its original Arawak name of Haiti. The war with France had utterly laid waste the country and destroyed the economy. In October 1804 Dessalines assumed the title of Emperor Jacques I; on Oct. 17, 1806, he was killed while trying to put down a mulatto revolt, and Henry Christophe took control of his kingdom. Civil war broke out between Christophe (later Henry I) in the north and Alexandre Sabès Pétion, based at Port-au-Prince in the south. In 1809, with British help, Spanish rule was restored in the eastern part of the island (Santo Domingo).

Christophe managed to improve the country's economy, but he had to force peasants to work on the plantations. He built a spectacular palace, Sans Souci, as well as an imposing fortress, the Citadelle Laferrière, in the hills to the south of Cap-Haïtien, where, with mutinous soldiers almost at his door, he committed suicide in 1820.

Jean-Pierre Boyer, who had succeeded to the presidency of the mulatto-led south on Pétion's death in 1818, became president of the entire country after Christophe's death. In 1822 he invaded and conquered Santo Domingo, which had declared itself independent from Spain the previous year and was now engaged in fighting the Spaniards. Boyer abolished slavery and confiscated church property in Santo Domingo; it was not until 1844 that the Haitians were expelled from Santo Domingo by a popular uprising.

Haitian independence was recognized by France in 1825, in return for an indemnity of nearly 100 million francs, to be paid at an annual rate until 1887. Britain recognized the state in 1833, and the United States in 1862, after the secession of the Southern slave states.

Boyer was overthrown in 1843. Between then and 1915 a succession of 20 rulers followed, 16 of whom were overthrown by revolution or were assassinated. Faustin-Élie Soulouque, who became president in 1847 and emperor for life in 1849, was extremely repressive. He turned on his mulatto sponsors, and his regime was in some ways a return to power of the black party. He tried unsuccessfully to annex the Dominican Republic (formerly Santo Domingo) and was overthrown in 1859 by one of his generals, Fabre Geffrard. Geffrard tried to reduce repression, encouraged educated mulattoes to join his government, and established Haitian respectability abroad. The 1890s saw an increase in U.S. attempts to gain military and commercial privileges in Haiti. In 1905 the United States took Haiti's customs into receivership, and, before World War I, U.S. business interests had gained a secure financial foothold and valuable concessions.

Haiti since 1957

In September 1957, after considerable unrest and several provisional presidents, François Duvalier (called "Papa Doc")--formerly employed on a U.S. medical aid project and a student of voodoo--was elected president. He promised to end domination by the mulatto elite and to bring political and economic power to the black masses. Violence continued, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Duvalier in July 1958, he organized a gang of violent adherents--the Tontons Macoutes--who terrorized the population. In 1964 Duvalier, by then firmly in control, had himself elected president for life. Haiti under Duvalier was, in effect, a police state.

Near the end of his life, faced by a contracting economy, withdrawal of most U.S. aid, and a decline of tourism, Duvalier relaxed some of the severe repression and terror that had characterized his early regime. Before his death in 1971, he designated his son, Jean-Claude, aged 19 and called "Baby Doc," to succeed him as president for life. The regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier sought international respectability. Repression diminished, and tourism, U.S. aid, and the economy revived somewhat. Opponents, however, saw little change in the regime's basic nature.

A series of popular demonstrations throughout Haiti in late 1985 and early 1986 against high unemployment, poor living conditions, and the lack of political freedom could not be repressed by the brutality of the Tontons Macoutes (estimated at 15,000 men). On Feb. 7, 1986, Duvalier fled Haiti, with U.S. assistance, for France.

Led by Lieutenant General Henri Namphy, a five-member civilian-military council took charge, promising elections and democratic reforms. Elections in January 1988 were widely considered fraudulent, however, and Namphy overthrew the new president, Leslie Manigat, in June. Namphy was himself deposed on September 17, and Lieutenant General Prosper Avril was installed as president. Two coup attempts shook Avril's government in 1989, and in March 1990, following a week of antigovernment protests, Avril was forced to resign.

On Dec. 16, 1990, in what were widely reported to be the first fully free elections in Haiti's history, a leftist Roman Catholic priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, won the presidency by a landslide. Legislative elections in January 1991 gave Aristide supporters a plurality in Haiti's parliament, and Aristide took office on Feb. 7, 1991. In late September of 1991, after what opponents claimed were inflammatory speeches by Aristide, he was deposed and exiled by the military under Brigadier General Raoul Cédras. The United States imposed a trade embargo, but a smuggling trade with the Dominican Republic weakened the effects of the embargo. Tens of thousands of Haitians attempted to flee their country in small boats bound for the United States, but the U.S. government insisted on returning the vast majority of the refugees to Haiti. The United States, together with the United Nations and the Organization of American States, sought to negotiate Aristide's return to the presidency. A peace agreement in July 1993 promised Aristide's return to power by October, but renewed military violence prevented the transition. Subsequent peace proposals were rejected by Aristide over conditions for implementation, while Haiti's political deadlock brought renewed, harsher sanctions against the fragile country.

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Dominican Republic

Spanish REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA,

country of the West Indies. It occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola, the second largest island of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. Haiti, also an independent republic, occupies the western third of the island. Hispaniola lies between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east and is situated about 670 miles (1,080 kilometres) southeast of Florida and 310 miles north of Colombia and Venezuela. The northern shores of the Dominican Republic are washed by the Atlantic Ocean, while the southern shore is bordered by the Caribbean Sea. Between the eastern tip of the island and Puerto Rico runs a channel called the Mona Passage. The republic has an area of 18,704 square miles (48,443 square kilometres; including 63 square miles of adjacent islands). The capital is Santo Domingo.

The country, although small, occupies a strategic position on major sea routes leading from both Europe and the United States to the Panama Canal. Between 1930 and 1961 the republic's history was dominated by the repressive dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo--a ruler who nevertheless maintained internal stability, liquidated the national debt, and introduced a measure of prosperity and modernization. Yet, the human costs were excessive. Since the Trujillo regime large numbers of Dominicans have remained in poverty with little promise of improvement.

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The land

Relief

Topography is complicated and varied and includes five distinct highland or upland areas running along a northwest-to-southeast axis. The Duarte Peak in the major Cordillera Central (Central Highlands) is the highest mountain in the West Indies, rising to a height of 10,417 feet (3,175 metres). There are also a smaller range, the Cordillera Septentrional, which runs parallel to the northwest coast, and two lesser ranges in the southwest. Another minor upland area, the Cordillera Oriental (Eastern Highlands), lies in the northeastern portion of the country. The extreme northwest and the extreme southwest are dry, low, and desertlike. The southeastern region consists of rolling lowlands.

Drainage

The Yaque del Sur River empties into the Bay of Neiba, draining the Cordillera Central to the south, while the Yaque del Norte River drains the northern slopes, flowing into the Bay of Monte Cristi. The eastern part of the island is drained by the Yuna River, which flows into Samaná Bay, and by the Ozama River, the mouth of which is near Santo Domingo, on the south coast. The salt lake of Enriquillo, about 23 miles long and 11 miles wide at its widest point, located near the Haitian border, is the country's largest natural lake.

Soils

Soils vary, but those of the upland areas are mostly of residual origin, deriving from metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Soils in the lowlands are of recent alluvial origin, except in the southeastern savanna (grassland) area, where they consist of sedimentary deposits of recent marine origin. In general all the soils are quite fertile except in the far southwest, in the Pedernales region, where the sedimentary soils are relatively barren.

Climate

The Dominican Republic lies well within the tropical zone, but the hot, moist climate typical of this zone is tempered in many areas by the altitude and in other areas by the insular character of the republic and by the northeast trade winds that blow steadily from the Atlantic all year long. The heaviest precipitation is in the mountainous northeast, where the average rainfall is more than 100 inches (2,540 millimetres) a year. As the trade winds pass over the various mountain ranges, they lose their moisture until, in the far western part of the country, along the Haitian border, less than 30 inches of rain falls annually. The Dominican Republic is in danger of damage from tropical storms and hurricanes, which originate in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern Caribbean from August until October each year.

In spite of local variations, the country as a whole enjoys a relatively mild and pleasant climate. The annual mean temperature is 77 F (25 C). Temperatures rarely rise above 90 F (32 C), and, even in the heart of the highest central mountain range, the overall mean is only about 69 F (21 C). Very cold temperatures are unknown.

Plant and animal life

Vegetation varies considerably. The mountains are still largely forested with pines and hardwoods, although during the past century the lower and more accessible slopes were practically denuded of trees by commercial lumbering. In the drier regions low shrubs and scrubby trees predominate, but, as rainfall increases, grasslands and dense rain forests occur. The royal palm appears prominently throughout much of the country.

Cultivation of a wide variety of crops has largely replaced the natural vegetation in many areas--particularly in the more fertile upland valleys and on the lower mountain slopes. Mangrove swamps line some coastal areas, while elsewhere, particularly along the northern shore, sandy beaches of great beauty are to be found.

Wild animal life is not abundant, although for several centuries cattle and goats, introduced by the early Spanish colonists, ran wild on the grasslands and in the desert areas. Alligators are found near the mouths of the Yaque rivers and in the waters of Lake Enriquillo. A great variety of birds, including ducks, are hunted. Fish and shellfish inhabit the surrounding waters but have not been exploited commercially. Sport fishing, however, is an important tourist activity.

Settlement patterns

The greatest population density, apart from the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, is in the area referred to as the Cibao Valley, which extends across the north from the Samaná Peninsula in the northeast, north of the eastern and central mountain ranges and south of the Septentrional range, to Monte Cristi in the far northwest. South of the Cordillera Central lies an alluvial plain where rice is grown; its population is centred on San Juan de la Maguana. Many of the inhabitants of the town of Azua and its environs are the descendants of immigrants from the Canary Islands.

The southeastern savannas, now largely under sugar cultivation, are inhabited by settlers of predominantly European ancestry--descendants of cattle herders and families who owned small ranches. The southeastern coastline itself, however, is increasingly inhabited by blacks from other West Indian nations who have come to work on the sugar plantations, in the mills, or on the docks. Most of these are temporary or seasonal workers, many from Haiti.

Although villages exist, the more common rural settlement pattern is a scattered neighbourhood--perhaps clustered about a small store or church. Settlements frequently stretch along roadsides, with cultivated patches behind the houses; there are still many households so isolated from major or even minor roads that they can be reached only on foot or by horseback.

The Dominican Republic still has a large rural population, but it has diminished. Some 55 percent of the population is now estimated to live in urban sites, the country having experienced one of the highest urbanization rates in the world since the late 1950s. The largest of the urban centres is Santo Domingo, the capital city, followed by Santiago, which vies with the capital in political, cultural, industrial, and commercial importance. Other major population centres include San Francisco de Macorís and La Vega in the Cibao Valley, San Pedro de Macorís and La Romana on the south coast, and Puerto Plata on the north.

The Dominican Republic also has been subject to a high rate of out-migration, primarily to New York City. During the 15-year period 1965-80 it has been estimated that some 400,000 people, or about 8 percent of the total population, chose to emigrate, principally to improve their economic situation. Many of the emigrants found extralegal ways to gain entry to and remain in the United States. The outward flow of people alleviated the strain on home resources and at the same time provided remittances of cash and goods that assisted the welfare of those who stayed at home.

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Tortuga Island,

French ÎLE DE LA TORTUE, Caribbean island off the northern coast of Haiti opposite Port-de-Paix. European adventurers settled Tortuga (Spanish: "Turtle") in 1629, in conjunction with trying to establish a foothold on the neighbouring island of Hispaniola (now comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Known as filibusters and buccaneers, these "Brethren of the Coast" harassed Spanish shipping. Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Spaniards, in turn, dominated Tortuga until the French gained permanent possession in 1665.

In the 1880s France, Britain, and the United States considered the island, which is 20 miles (32 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide, strategically important, but thereafter it became of little value either in international affairs or in the Haitian economy. On its highest point is the small village of Lan Palmiste. Pop. (1982 prelim.) 22,080.

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History

At the time of Columbus' first landing, the Caribs, a people who had apparently originated on the South American mainland and migrated to the Greater Antilles (and for whom the Caribbean Sea is named), were preying upon the Taino (Arawak), who had previously settled there. These Indians were less advanced socially and culturally than were the large-scale Indian civilizations in Mexico, Guatemala, or Peru.

Hispaniola was visited by Columbus on his maiden voyage. A colony was established on the north coast, but the first settlers were slaughtered by the Indians. Returning, Columbus established a second colony; but reports of abundant gold farther south quickly led to the abandonment of the northern outpost and to the founding of Santo Domingo city on the Caribbean coast.

Colonial era

Hispaniola was the first area in the New World to receive the full imprint of Spanish colonial policy. The oldest cathedral, monastery, and hospital in the Americas were established on the island, and the first university was chartered there. The earliest experiments in Spanish imperial rule were conducted here. Class and caste lines were rigidly drawn; the Roman Catholic church served as the strong right arm of temporal authority. A cruel, exploitative, slave-based society and economy came into being. The first "revolution" in the New World was also recorded on Hispaniola.

During the first half century of Spanish rule, Hispaniola flourished, for its rich mines and lush lands yielded abundant wealth, and it served as the administrative centre for Spain's burgeoning American empire. But the more lucrative conquests of Mexico and Peru soon turned it into a poor way station. Its Indians were decimated, gold and silver were more easily available elsewhere, and the more ambitious Spaniards emigrated.

For the better part of the next three centuries, Hispaniola remained a neglected, poverty-ridden backwater of the Spanish empire in the Americas. Successive raids by British, Dutch, and French marauders and buccaneers devastated the island still further. Socially and economically, it retrogressed. Eventually, French claims to the western third of the island were recognized, and a prosperous sugar-producing colony based on black slavery grew up in Saint-Domingue, the area that was later to become the independent nation of Haiti. As a by-product of Haiti's prosperity, the Spanish colony also experienced a modest boom in the 18th century.

In 1795, as a result of its defeat in the wars that had been raging in Europe, Spain ceded the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola to France. Meanwhile, inflamed by the revolutionary currents then sweeping France and stirred to revolt by the inhuman conditions under which the slaves were forced to labour, a slave uprising had begun in Haiti. Led by Toussaint-Louverture, the blacks not only succeeded in throwing off French rule but soon overran the previously Spanish eastern end of the island as well, instilling terror in the white ruling class. With the aid of the British fleet, the Haitians were driven back, and in 1809 the colony was reunited with Spain. In 1821, following the lead of the countries on the mainland, the Dominican Republic declared its independence. The new republic comprised approximately the eastern two-thirds of the island.

The Dominican Republic to 1930

Within a matter of weeks, Haitian columns under Jean-Pierre Boyer (president of Haiti, 1818-43) again overran the entire island. Dominican historians have portrayed this occupation (1822-44) as cruel and barbarous. Haitians held the highest offices, closed the university, severed the church's ties with Rome, forced out the traditional ruling class, and all but obliterated the western European and Hispanic traditions. But Boyer also freed the slaves, and his administration was generally efficient.

In the 1830s Juan Pablo Duarte--known as the father of Dominican independence--organized a secret society to fight the Haitians, and in 1844, after a long struggle and aided by the outbreak of civil war in Haiti itself, independence was finally achieved. But Duarte and the other idealistic independence fighters were soon exiled, and the new nation quickly fell into less noble hands.

From 1844 until 1899 the Dominican Republic was dominated by a succession of dictatorial "men on horseback," who prevented the growth of democracy and who were not above selling out the country to foreign and commercial interests. Pedro Santana and Buenaventura Báez emerged as the two most prominent figures, alternating in the presidency for nearly 30 years. In order to ward off continuous assaults by Haiti, Santana returned the country to Spain (1861-65) and arranged to have himself named governor-general. After a series of battles, Spain withdrew its troops, and Báez approached the United States with a protectorate plan. President Ulysses S. Grant favoured annexation, but, after the questionable activities of a U.S. land-speculating company became public, the Senate failed to ratify the treaty.

During the 1870s the instability continued. Báez returned to the presidency for the fifth time, and the country's first, but short-lived, democratic government came to power. The instability culminated in the emergence of Ulises Heureaux, who dominated the country from 1882 to 1899. Heureaux presided over a period of unprecedented stability and national growth. New roads were built, production rose, and foreign capital entered, although under dictatorial auspices. Following Heureaux's assassination in 1899 the country returned to the chaotic politics of the past. New leaders took over and were in turn forced out of the presidential palace. Even the accession of the archbishop Adolfo Nouel to the presidency in 1912 failed to stem the disorder; within four months he, too, was forced to resign.

Meanwhile, the deteriorating financial situation plus the expanding interests of the United States in the Caribbean area had drawn that country ever deeper into Dominican affairs. The United States had replaced Europe as the major importer of the republic's products as well as the chief supplier of its imports. U.S. private investments were also rising rapidly. In 1905, threatened with the possibility that European creditors would use force to collect some unpaid Dominican debts, the United States took over the administration of the Dominican customs revenues. In 1916, as the fragile political structure collapsed again, the United States assumed complete control.

During the U.S. occupation (1916-24), roads, schools, communications and sanitation facilities, and other projects were built. But the occupation forces had assumed arbitrary control and frequently abused their authority. In addition, the U.S. Marine Corps created a modern, unified, military constabulary that provided the instrument by which future Dominican strongmen could seize power.

In 1924, in U.S.-supervised elections, Horacio Vásquez was elected president. His rule eventually proved incompetent and corrupt, and the stock market crash of 1929-30 undermined the Dominican economy. In 1930 a revolution was launched against his rule. The military forces, now under the firm control of Rafael Trujillo, held the balance of power; but, rather than defend the government, they stood by and let the revolution succeed. Then Trujillo moved to take power himself.

The Dominican Republic since 1930

The dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (1930-61) was one of the longest, cruelest, and most absolute in modern times. For more than three decades Trujillo ruled with an iron hand; virtually everything he touched had to belong to him. Trujillo dominated the armed forces, government, economy, church, education, every element of Dominican society. Under Trujillo, as under Heureaux, the economy prospered.

Following Trujillo's assassination in 1961, his heirs and followers attempted to remain in power, but they were also driven out, and the country embarked on a more democratic course. In 1963 Juan Bosch and his moderately reformist Dominican Revolutionary Party took power, the first democratically elected and progressive government in the country's history. Conservative forces remained strong, however, and after seven hectic months Bosch was overthrown. The country's return to conservative rule fomented a popularly based and democratic social revolution in 1965. Fearing a second Cuba, however, the United States again occupied the country (1965-66) and snuffed out the revolution. New elections were then scheduled.

The winner of the 1966 elections was Joaquín Balaguer, a former Trujillo puppet now presenting himself as a moderate conservative and a symbol of orderly change. The reelections in 1970 and 1974 of the conservative regime of Balaguer reflected the power of the business, commercial, and industrial oligarchy. Under Balaguer there were strong economic gains and some social reforms, but the level of tension remained high. In 1978 Balaguer was defeated by Antonio Guzmán Fernández and the Dominican Revolutionary Party. Guzmán moved cautiously to implement reforms, but conservative elements remained powerful and the economy fragile. Hurricane David devastated the country in 1979, and the faltering economy led to inflation, strikes, and depressed conditions.

Guzmán was succeeded by another Dominican Revolutionary Party candidate, Salvador Jorge Blanco, who served as president in 1982-86. The country thus was able to complete eight years of true democratic government, the longest in its history. But Jorge Blanco was faced with falling prices for sugar, widespread corruption in the government bureaucracy, a declining economy, and hence the need to impose an unpopular austerity program that produced strikes and food riots. As a result, the aging (and now blind) Balaguer was elected president again in 1986. Two years later, while out of the country undergoing medical treatment, Jorge Blanco was convicted of corruption that allegedly occurred during his presidency. Although Balaguer's advanced age and declining health gave rise to fears of instability and despite continuing economic difficulties, he was reelected in 1990, by an extremely narrow margin, over the former president Juan Bosch.

The Dominican Republic had developed a stronger base for democracy (political parties, interest groups, larger middle class, greater literacy) throughout the 1980s, but authoritarian impulses remained powerful. Balaguer's administration continued firmly in control despite periodic civil disorders protesting a stagnated economy, cost of living increases, and inflation.