Independence Day Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic’s Carnival is celebrated every year during the entire month of February, culminating with the largest celebration on Independence Day, February 27. The Dominican’s cultural identity and creativity is on display throughout this vibrant month.

The festivities in the Dominican Republic can be traced back to the 1500s, in the ruins of a town called La Vega, even before it was celebrated in the capital city of Santo Domingo. Carnival began almost three centuries before Dominican independence in 1844. Before gaining their independence the Dominican Republic experienced an unstable history of occupation by Spain, France, and Haiti.

Christopher Columbus arrived on the island of Hispaniola, known today as the Dominican Republic and Haiti, during his first trip to America in 1492. The Dominican Republic’s capital, Santo Domingo, was Spain’s first settlement in the New World.

In the 16th century, Hispaniola was the bridge between the Caribbean and mainland America under Spanish rule. As the importance of the island dwindled in the 17th century, the Spanish were forced to surrender the western part of the island, known as today as Haiti, to the French in 1697 and the rest of the island a century later in 1795. The entire island was then named Santo Domingo. The Dominican part did not adjust well to this change in culture and soon after the Haitian part of the island gained its independence in 1804, France lost the rest of the island for good in 1809.

The Dominicans’ attempt to earn their own independence was stopped by the Spanish as they recaptured the eastern side of island under the Treaty of Paris in 1814. Seven years later the Dominican’s acquired their independence and hoped to join the Republic of Gran Colombia (today roughly makes up Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, and Colombia.). However, in 1822 Haiti conquered the entire island ruled for 22 gruesome years.