The Dominican Republic was originally home to the Tainos, an Arawakan people. They called the eastern part of the island Quisqueya which means "mother of all lands." (Wikipedia)
1492
Christopher Columbus landed on this ‘new world’, claims it for Spain and names it Hispaniola.
1496-1844The eastern half of the island of Hispaniola, now known as the Dominican Republic, is the earliest of all the European colonies in the western hemisphere. Santo Domingo, its capital, was established on the south coast in 1496 by Diego Columbus, younger brother of the explorer. It becomes the main base for Spanish activities until the conquest of Mexico. In time the Spanish lost the western half of the island, Haiti, to the French. In 1844. Hispaniola, the oldest European colony in the western hemisphere, becomes the first region to be free. (World History.net)
Between1844 and 1914, the Dominican Republic had 53 presidents (of whom only 3 had completed their terms) and 19 constitutions. Most came to power through the barrel of a gun and left the same way. (Wikipedia)
1916-1961
In 1916 a combination of economic chaos, civil war and the threat of other European nations persuades Woodrow Wilson to send in the marines who are already next door in Haiti, to take over the country. American government and military occupation lasts for eight years, until 1924. (Wikipedia)
Around 1930, the mulatto dictator Rafael Trujillo, promoting an extravagant cult of personality, seized control of the Dominican Republic and ruled the country until his assassination in 1961. He was exceedingly cruel, taking his cues from the fascist leaders of his time, Franco and Hitler, as well as the racist ideologies of the US by championing a policy of blanquismo, closely connected with anti-Haitian xenophobia, which sought to add more light-skinned individuals to the Dominican population by promoting immigration from Europe and slaughtering countless thousands of Haitians. (Wikipedia)
Trujillo maintained close ties with the United States, emulating its values and currying favor for protection and acceptance. His whitening campaign was personal - he was a self-loathing mulatto - as well as political. It has had a deep and lasting effect on the self-perceived identity of the country as a white Dominican population as compared to its neighbor to the west, Haiti, a black population.