The Dominican Republic (Spanish: República Dominicana; ) is a nation located in the Caribbean region and shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Part of the Greater Antilles archipelago, Hispaniola lies west of Puerto Rico and east of Cuba and Jamaica. Its western third is the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are occupied by two countries, Saint Martin being the other.

The Dominican Republic is the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas: its capital, Santo Domingo, which was also the first colonial capital in the Americas, site of the first cathedral, university, European-built road, European-built fortress, and more.

For most of its independent history, the nation experienced political turmoil and unrest, suffering through many non-representative and tyrannical governments. Since the death of military dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina in 1961, the Dominican Republic has moved toward a liberal economic model, which has made it the largest economy in the region, and towards representative democracy.

History

The Taínos

Hispaniola was inhabited by the Taínos, an Arawakan-speaking people who may have arrived around A.D. 600, displacing earlier inhabitants. The Taínos called the island Kiskeya or Quisqueya, meaning "mother of the earth", as well as Haití or Aytí, and Bohio. They engaged in farming and fishing, and hunting and gathering. There are widely varying estimates of the population of Hispaniola in 1492, including one hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, and 400,000 to 2 million. By 1492 Hispaniola was divided into five chiefdoms. Within a few years following the arrival of European explorers the population of Tainos had declined due to a change in their lifestyle, the introduction of diseases such as smallpox, and enslavement. By 1711 they numbered 21,000. The last record of pure Taino natives in the country was from an 1864 account by a Spanish soldier, who wrote of Tainos shooting at Spanish soldiers and fleeing, during the Restoration War. Taino cave paintings can still be seen in a variety of caves around the country.

Spanish rule

Christopher Columbus landed at Môle Saint-Nicolas, in northwest present-day Haiti, on December 5, 1492, during his first voyage. He claimed the island for Spain and named it La Española. Nineteen days later his flagship the Santa María ran aground near the present site of Cap-Haitien. Columbus was forced to leave 39 men, who founded the settlement of La Navidad. He then moved east, exploring the northern coast of what is now the Dominican Republic, after which he returned to Spain. He sailed back to America three more times.