Haitian Military Occupation of Santo Domingo

The Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo[lower-alpha 1] (Spanish: Ocupación haitiana de Santo Domingo; French: Occupation haïtienne de Saint-Domingue; Haitian Creole: Okipasyon ayisyen nan Sen Domeng) was the annexation and merger of then-independent Republic of Spanish Haiti (formerly Santo Domingo) into the Republic of Haiti, that lasted twenty-two years, from February 9, 1822 to February 27, 1844.[3][4] While many Haitians view the invasion and occupation of Spanish Santo Domingo as a "unification" of the island designed to protect their country from re-enslavement via the Spanish side, Dominicans consider it as a forced military invasion and occupation.[5] The Haitian occupation's suppression of Dominican culture (including the Spanish language and Catholic Religion), forceful expropriation of Dominican wealth to Haitian elites, and strict policies based on labor led to growing resentment that culminated in a Dominican movement for national independence, which was attained in February 1844.[6]

Republic of Haiti
République d'Haïti (French)
1822–1844
Flag of Haiti
Map of Hispaniola from 1822 to 1844
Map of Hispaniola from 1822 to 1844
StatusAnnexed to Haiti
CapitalSanto Domingo
Common languagesFrench (official)
Spanish
Demonym(s)Dominican
GovernmentMilitary occupation
President 
• 1822–1843 (first)
Jean-Pierre Boyer
• 1843–1844 (last)
Charles Rivière-Hérard
Historical eraEarly 19th Century
• Established
February 9, 1822
• Dominican Declaration of Independence
January 16, 1844
• Dominican War of Independence (end of occupation)
February 27, 1844
CurrencyGourde (HTG)
ISO 3166 codeHT
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Republic of Spanish Haiti
First Dominican Republic
Today part ofDominican Republic

In the Dominican Republic Independence Day is celebrated on February 27, the day of revolt against Haitian occupation.[7]

Background

By the late 18th century, the island of Hispaniola had been divided into two European colonies: Saint-Domingue, in the west, governed by France; and Santo Domingo, governed by Spain, occupying the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola. By the 1790s, large-scale rebellions erupted in the western portion of the island, spearheaded by men such as Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines which led to the eventual removal of the French and the independence of Haiti. Following the independence of Haiti, massive portions of the remaining French population were murdered. The eastern portion of the island was preparing itself for an eventual separation from Spain.

First unification under the French
Main article: Era de Francia

During the second half of the eighteenth century, Saint-Domingue quickly developed into the most prosperous plantation colony of the New World. As a result of the sugar plantations of the French colony worked by African slaves; sugar had become an indispensable commodity in Europe.[8] By contrast, Santo Domingo, the eastern side that had once been the headquarters of Spanish colonial power in the New World, had long fallen into decline. The economy was stalled, the land largely unexploited and used for subsistence agriculture and cattle ranching, and the population was much lower than in Saint-Domingue. The accounts by the Dominican essayist and politician José Núñez de Cáceres cite the Spanish colony's population at around 80,000, mainly composed of criollos, mulattos, freedmen, and a few black slaves. Saint-Domingue, on the other hand, was nearing a million slaves.

In the aftermath of the war between the new French Republic and Spain, the latter, by the Peace of Basel of 22 July 1795, ceded its two-thirds of the island to France in exchange for the evacuation of the province of Guipuzcoa occupied by the French since 1793. However, due to the near chaotic situation in Saint-Domingue resulting from uprisings by mulattos and freedmen since 1791, the expected armed opposition of the Spanish settlers of Santo Domingo who feared the abolition of slavery if the French were to take over, and under the belief that the British would seize Santo Domingo if the transfer was effected, the Committee of Public Safety decided to delay the occupation until such time as it had enough military and naval forces to take possession of the eastern part of the island. This was to occur in January 1801 when Toussaint Louverture, then still loyal to France, occupied Santo Domingo in the name of the French Republic.[9] In 1804 the leader of the Haitian revolution, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, declared Haiti's independence. Independence did not come easily given the fact that Haiti had been France's most profitable colony.

Under Toussaint Louverture's government, slavery was abolished for the first time on the eastern portion of Hispaniola until the colony was ceded to France. While the French had lost their former colony of Saint-Domingue by 1804, the French commander of the former Spanish side had been able to repulse the attacks of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, but in 1808, the Dominicans, led by Juan Sánchez Ramírez, revolted and the following year, with the help of a Royal Navy squadron, ended French control of the city of Santo Domingo. Spanish rule was reestablished. However, this short period under which the whole of Hispaniola was de jure under French rule was to be the chief justification of the freed Haitians in their quest to reunite the island under their rule.

1805: Invasion of Santo Domingo
Main article: Siege of Santo Domingo (1805)
Jean-Jacques Dessalines

In February 1805, Haitian forces, under Jean-Jacques Dessalines, invaded from the southern route in opposition of French-led approved slave raiding.[10] Unable to overpower the Spanish-French defense, and intimidated by the arrival of a French fleet in support of Borgella in Santo Domingo, the army of Dessalines along with Henri Christophe raided through the interior Dominican towns Santiago and Moca, while Alexandre Pétion invaded Azua.[11][12] On his retreat from Santo Domingo, Dessalines arrived in Santiago on 12 April 1805. While in Santiago, Haitian forces set fire to the town, including churches and convents.[13] The army killed approximately 400 inhabitants including some priests and took prisoners to Haiti.[14] More people were killed on Dessalines' orders in the French-held portions of the island,[15] including the towns of Monte Plata, Cotuí and La Vega and approximately 500 people of the northern town of Moca.[11][13][16] The barrister Gaspar de Arredondo y Pichardo wrote, "40 [Dominican] children had their throats cut at the church in Moca, and the bodies found at the presbytery, which is the space that encircles the church's altar..."[17] Survivors from the raids fled to western locations including Higüey through Cotuí as well as to other territories of the Spanish Antilles. Prisoners rounded up by the troups were forced to accompany the army back to Haiti, where, once they arrived, were either killed or forced to work on plantations. In total, over the course of a few weeks, nearly half of Santo Domingo's population were slaughtered by the Haitian soldiers.[18]

1806: Struggle to unite the South and North of Haiti
Further information: History of Haiti § The struggle for unity (1806–20)
Map of Hispaniola from 1808-1820

On October 17, 1806, Dessalines was assassinated, an act which was instigated by his own generals Henri Christophe and Alexandre Pétion. Afterward, both Christophe and Pétion failed to agree on who was going to be the next leader-for-life (a title created by Dessalines himself), so they went separate ways: Christophe took the North of Haiti (which he named "Kingdom of Haiti"), while Pétion got for himself the South part of Haiti (the newly created "Republic of Haiti"); and immediately they started a series of wars to take over the other's side. The internal military conflicts lasted until 1820 when Haitian president Jean-Pierre Boyer finally unified both the South and North of Haiti. After this, Boyer aimed his sights on the struggling Spanish-side of the island.

1821: Independence from Spain
Jose Nuñez de Cáceres, the first and only governor of The Republic of Spanish Haiti from 1821-1822

On 9 November 1821, Spanish colonial rule over Santo Domingo was overthrown by a group led by José Núñez de Cáceres, the colony's former administrator,[19][20] and the rebels proclaimed independence from the Spanish crown on 1 December 1821.[21] The new nation was known as Republic of Spanish Haiti (Spanish: República del Haití Español), as Haiti had been the indigenous name of the island.[20] On 1 December 1821 a constitutive act was ordered to petition the union of Spanish Haiti with Gran Colombia.

Prelude to the occupation
19th century French print showing Mackau forcing Boyer to agree to pay 150 million francs to compensate French planters.

A group of Dominican politicians and military officers favored uniting the newly independent nation with Haiti, as they sought for political stability under Haitian president Jean-Pierre Boyer, and were attracted to Haiti's perceived wealth and power at the time. A large faction based in the northern Cibao region were opposed to the union with Gran Colombia and also sided with Haiti. Boyer, on the other hand, had several objectives in the island that he proclaimed to be "one and indivisible": to maintain Haitian independence against potential French or Spanish attack or reconquest and to maintain the freedom of its former slaves.[21][22][23][24]

While appeasing the Dominican frontier officers, Jean-Pierre Boyer was already in negotiations with France to prevent an attack by fourteen French warships stationed near Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. The Dominicans were unaware that Boyer made a concession to the French, and agreed to pay France 150 million gold francs destined to compensated the former French slave owners. Thus, Haiti would essentially be forced into paying reparations for its freedom.[25]

Support of the unification found itself to be more popular amongst the Black population who believed that Boyers government would usher an era of social reform, including the abolition of slavery. In contrast, the white and multiracial populations, however, found themselves split on the idea of merging with the neighboring country. After deals with Bolivar fell through and receiving messages of economic and military support from Boyer, Caceres found himself more obliged to side with Creole Haiti. The idea had been gaining some traction among members of the military, and in 1821 Governor Sebastián Kindelán y Oregon discovered that some of the Dominican military officers in Azua and Santo Domingo had already become part of the plan for unification with Haiti. A defining moment took place on November 15, 1821, when the leaders of several Dominican frontier towns, particularly Dajabón and Montecristi, adopted the Haitian flag.[26]

The Dominican nationalists who were against the unification of the island were at a serious disadvantage compared to the Haitian military, having at their disposal only an untrained infantry force. Haiti's population was eight to ten times larger than that of the Dominican population, and the Dominicans had to also contend with a severely underdeveloped economy. The Haitian military had been hardened after decades of conflict with European powers and rival political factions in Haiti, and memories of the numerous racial massacres of the Revolution were still fresh in the mind of Haitian troops, increasing their determination to never lose a battle.

Occupation
Jean-Pierre Boyer, the ruler of Haiti

After promising his full support to several Dominican frontier governors and securing their allegiance,[26] Boyer ceremoniously marched into the country with 12,000 soldiers in February 1822, against a significantly smaller, untrained army serving some 70,000 Dominican souls (Haiti had a population around 600,000 people).[27] On 9 February 1822, Boyer formally entered the capital city, Santo Domingo after its ephemeral independence.[24] The island was thus united from "Cape Tiburon to Cape Samana in possession of one government."[21] Upon unification of both French-side (Haitï) and Spanish-side (then Spanish Haiti) nations under the Haitian flag, Boyer divided the island into six departments, that were subdivided into arrondissements (administrative districts) and communes. The departments established in the west were, Nord, Ouest, Sud, and Artibonite, while the east was divided into Ozama and Cibao.[28] This period led to large-scale land expropriations and failed efforts to force production of export crops, impose military services, restrict the use of the Spanish language, and suppress traditional customs . There was also a resurgence of the decades-old rivalries between the governing Haitian elite (mulattoes) and the masses of the black population, most notably throughout the western end.

Map of the island of Haiti (1839)
La Trinitaria meeting.

In order to raise funds for the huge indemnity of 150 million francs that Haiti agreed to pay the former French colonists, and which was subsequently lowered to 60 million francs, the Haitian government imposed heavy taxes on the Dominicans. Since Haiti was unable to adequately provision its army, the occupying forces largely survived by commandeering or confiscating food and supplies at gunpoint . Attempts to redistribute land conflicted with the system of communal land tenure (terrenos comuneros), which had arisen with the ranching economy, and some people resented being forced to grow cash crops under Boyer and Joseph Balthazar Inginac's Code Rural instituted in 1838.[29] In the rural and rugged mountainous areas, the Haitian administration was usually too inefficient to enforce its own laws. It was in the city of Santo Domingo that the effects of the occupation were most acutely felt, and it was there that the movement for independence originated. Dominican citizens also had more rights than the Haitians who were under Jean-Pierre Boyer's code rural, and often functioned as their own overseers.[30]

Haiti's constitution also forbade white elites from owning land, and the major landowning families were forcibly deprived of their properties. Many emigrated to Cuba, Puerto Rico (these two being Spanish possessions at the time) or Gran Colombia, usually with the encouragement of Haitian officials, who acquired their lands. The Haitians, who associated the Roman Catholic Church with the French slave-masters who had exploited them before independence, confiscated all church property, deported all foreign clergy, and severed the ties of the remaining clergy to the Vatican. Santo Domingo's university, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, lacking both students and teachers had to close down, and thus the country suffered from a massive case of human capital flight.

Although the occupation instated a constitution modeled after the United States Constitution throughout the island, and led to the abolition of slavery as an institution in what became known as the Dominican Republic,[31][32] forms of slavery persisted in Haitian society.[28]

After the annexation of the whole island by Haiti, United States' efforts headed by the American Colonization Society, to send formally enslaved Africans from the United States to Haiti was supported and embraced by the Haitian government in attempts to "blacken" the eastern Dominican side and make Haiti seem like a safe haven for black people. Various trips were made from the United States to Haiti, and in 1824, the largest trip to the Dominican side consisted of 6,000 enslaved Africans, went to Samana, creating the Samaná Americans.[33] Black refugees who had been subjected to slavery in other foreign territories (including Puerto Rico and Martinique) escaped to Santo Domingo and successfully claimed freedom under Haitian law. They testified to local Dominican officials (who now worked for the Haitian government) that they had sought to travel to Santo Domingo because they viewed it as a "free country" after annexation by Haiti.[34]

Several resolutions and written dispositions were expressly aimed at converting average Dominicans into second-class citizens as Boyer had done with the Haitian peasantry under the aforementioned Code Rural:[35] restrictions of movement, prohibition to run for public office, night curfews, inability to travel in groups, banning of civilian organizations, and the indefinite closure of the state university (on the alleged grounds of its being a subversive organization) all led to the creation of movements advocating a forceful separation from Haiti with no compromises.

Resistance and subsequent Independence
Matías Ramón Mella, Juan Pablo Duarte, and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez are remembered as the founding fathers of the Dominican Republic

In 1838 a group of educated nationalists, among them, Matías Ramón Mella, Juan Pablo Duarte and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez founded a secret society called La Trinitaria to gain independence from Haiti.[36] After they revealed themselves as revolutionaries working for Dominican independence, the new Haitian president, Charles Rivière-Hérard, exiled or imprisoned the leading Trinitarios. At the same time, Buenaventura Báez, an Azua mahogany exporter and deputy in the Haitian National Assembly, was negotiating with the French Consul-General for the establishment of a French protectorate.

In an uprising timed to preempt Báez, on February 27, 1844, the Trinitarios declared independence from Haiti, backed by Pedro Santana, a wealthy cattle-rancher from El Seibo who commanded a private army of peons who worked on his estates. This marked the beginning of the Dominican War of Independence.

Aftermath and Dominican Independence (1844)
Main article: Dominican War of Independence

After the struggles that were made by Dominican patriots to free the country from Haitian control, they had to withstand and fight against a series of incursions that served to consolidate their independence (1844–1856). Haitian soldiers would make incessant attacks to try to gain back control of the nation, but these efforts were to no avail, as the Dominicans would go on to win every battle. Haiti's military forces of 1805 were eroded over the next 50 years by the constant power struggles. What military was left devolved into a local repression force and served at the behest of a series of dictators and warlords well into the 20th century.

Territorial disputes

Neighboring towns and cities like Hincha (now Hinche), Juana Méndez (now Ouanaminthe), San Rafael de La Angostura (now Saint-Raphaël), San Miguel de la Atalaya (now Saint-Michel-de-l'Atalaye), Las Caobas (now Lascahobas), and Veladero (now Belladère), among others, remained isolated with little communication with the Dominican capital whilst there were a growing Haitian influence, as the gourde circulated and in addition to the Spanish language, Haitian Creole was also spoken; eventually becoming Haitian territories; however, these cities would often be disputed between the two countries.[37] The boundary was finally set in 1929, and demarcated in 1935–1936.[38]

Governors
  • Jérôme-Maximilien Borgella (9 February 1822 – 1832)
  • Bernard-Philippe-Alexis Carrié (1832 – February 1843)
  • Charles Rivière-Hérard (1843)
  • Léo Hérard (1843 – 27 February 1844)

See also

Notes
  1. "Santo Domingo" is the name under which what today constitutes the Dominican Republic was known during this period.[1] "Dominican Republic" only began to be used as the most common name for the country in English in the early 20th century.[2]

References
  1. "Dominican Republic – The first colony". Country Studies. Library of Congress; Federal Research Division. Retrieved June 19, 2008.
  2. Hand Book of Santo Domingo: Bulletin, Issue 52. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1892. Digitized 14 August 2012. p. 3. "...the Republic of Santo Domingo or República Dominicana (Dominican Republic) as it is officially designated."
  3. United States Geographic Board, ed. (1890–1891). First Report of the United States - Board of Geographic Names 1890-1891. Washington Government Printing Office. p. 45. Retrieved 13 September 2015. haiti; island.
  4. "World Leaders Index: Dominican Republic". Archived from the original on 2015-06-20. Retrieved 2015-04-26.
  5. "Anti-Haitianism, Historical Memory, and the Potential for Genocidal Violence in the Dominican Republic".
  6. Ricourt, Milagros (2016). The Dominican Racial Imaginary: Surveying the Landscape of Race and Nation in Hispaniola. Rutgers University Press. p. 30.
  7. Dominican Independence Day
  8. Haggerty, Richard A., ed. (1989). "Haiti: Growth and Structure of the Economy" (Haiti: A Country Study ed.). Library of Congress.
  9. Yves Benot, "Comment Santo Domingo n'a pas été occupé par la République française en 1795-1796", Annales historiques de la Révolution française, 1998, No. 311, pp. 79–81. https://www.persee.fr/doc/ahrf_0003-4436_1998_num_311_1_2089
  10. Langley, Lester D. (1996). The Americas in the Age of Revolution, 1750-1850. Yale University Press. p. 136. ISBN 0300077262.
  11. Ricourt, Milagros (2016-11-18). The Dominican Racial Imaginary: Surveying the Landscape of Race and Nation in Hispaniola. Rutgers University Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0813584508.
  12. Domínguez, Ángel (2014-04-03). "Opinión: El Degüello de Moca". Diario Libre (in Spanish). Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Archived from the original on 2014-12-20.
  13. del Monte y Tejada, Antonio (1890). Historia de Santo domingo. Book digitized by Google from the library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive. Imprenta de Garcia hermanos. pp. 196–198.
  14. Mackenzie, Charles (1830). Notes on Haiti: Made During a Residence in that Republic, Volume 1. Digitized by Harvard University on May 25, 2007. H. Colburn and R. Bentley. pp. 212–213.
  15. Martínez Fernández, Héctor (2012-01-28). "1805: ¿Degüello en Moca?". El Caribe (in Spanish). Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Multimedios del Caribe. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  16. Julia, Julio Jaime (1985). Notas para la historia de Moca: 1er centenario de la Provincia Espaillat (1885-1985). Digitized by Indiana University on Aug 28, 2008. Editora Universitaria. pp. 137–139.
  17. Gaspar de Arredondo y Pichardo, Memoria de mi salida de la isla de Santo Domingo el 28 de abril de 1805 (Memoirs of my leaving the island of Santo Domingo 28 April 1805)
  18. Matibag, E (2003). Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint: Nation, State, and Race on Hispaniola. Springer Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 1403973806.
  19. Lancer, Jalisco. "The Conflict Between Haiti and the Dominican Republic". All Empires Online History Community. Archived from the original on 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  20. "Haiti - Historical Flags". Flags of the World. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  21. Gates, Henry Louis; Appiah, Anthony (1999). Dominican-Haitian Relations. ISBN 9780465000715. Retrieved 2007-12-24. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  22. Matibag, Eugenio (2003). Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint: Nation, State, and Race on Hispaniola. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780312294328. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  23. Corbett, Bob. "1818-1843 The rule of Jean-Pierre Boyer". The History of Haiti. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  24. Franco Pichardo, Franklin J. (2009). "Capítulo XVIII: Período de Integración con Haití". Historia del Pueblo Dominicano (in Spanish) (8th ed.). Santo Domingo: Ediciones Taller. pp. 175–178. La actividad de los agentes haitianos, más los pronunciamentos de los pueblos de la zona Norte y de otras en la zona fronteriza, en favor de la unidad con Haití, y los constantes rumores sobre la entrada a la colonia del ejército de Boyer,... (...) El 15 de diciembre, Andrés Amarante, comandante de Dajabón, comunicó al presidente Boyer que la bandera de Haití había sido enarbolada en aquella ciudad y cinco días después, una junta popular organizada en Santiago denunció la obra de Núñez de Cáceres como "antisocial", llamando en su auxilio a Boyer. (...) En Haití, donde el movimiento unionista de los pueblos del Cibao Central y fronterizos había sido recibido calurosamente, el movimiento independentista de Núñez de Cáceres no encontró simpatía. Por ello, el periódico La Concordia "gazeta del gobierno de Haití" (...) censura la proclamación de la independencia de Núñez de Cáceres, cuestionando la confederación del nuevo Estado con Colombia. El periódico resaltaba que la confederación debió hacerse con Haití pues a su entender era "la confederación legítima preparada por la naturaleza"... (...) Boyer salió de Puerto Príncipe a finales de enero con su ejército que se dividió en dos partes: una que cruzó la frontera por el Norte y otra por el Sur, y el día 9 de febrero de 1822 hizo su entrada a la ciudad de Santo Domingo, donde luego de los actos de recibimiento oficiales de rigor que encabezó el Dr. Núñez de Cáceres, que envolvieron un tedéum en la Catedral y la entrega de la llave de la ciudad, que no quiso aceptar expresando «que no había entrado en ella como conquistador sino por la voluntad de sus habitantes»; poco después, en acto público solemne efectuado en la plaza principal, tomó su primera ejecutoria como Gobernador del territorio antiguamente español, proclamando la abolición de la esclavitud.
  25. Tharoor, Ishaan, ed. (11 May 2015). "Is it time for France to pay its real debt to Haiti?". Washington Post. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  26. ""Boyer Invades Eastern Hispaniola" by Juan Camilo Vera". islandluminous.fiu.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  27. ""Huyó todo el que pudo" tras invasión haitiana de 1822".
  28. Coupeau, Steeve, ed. (2008). The History of Haiti. Bloomsbury. pp. 51–52. ISBN 9780313340895. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  29. Terrenos comuneros arose because of "scarce population, low value of the land, the absence of officials qualified to survey the lands, and the difficulty of dividing up the ranch in such a way that each would receive a share of the grasslands, forests, streams, palm groves, and small agricultural plots that, only when combined, made possible the exploitation of the ranch." (Hoetink, The Dominican People: Notes for a Historical Sociology transl. Stephen Ault Pg. 83 (Johns Hopkins Press: Baltimore, 1982)
  30. Hall, Michael R. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Haiti. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810878105.
  31. Trouillot, Michel-Rolph (1990). Haiti: State Against Nation. NYU Press. p. 48. ISBN 9780853457558. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  32. Bryan, Patrick E. (1984). The Haitian Revolution and Its Effects. Heinemann. p. 43. ISBN 0435983016. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  34. Walker, Andrew (12 February 2019). "All Spirits Are Roused: The 1822 Antislavery Revolution in Haitian Santo Domingo". Slavery & Abolition. 40 (3): 12–14. doi:10.1080/0144039X.2019.1565438. S2CID 150460930. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  35. Lundahl, Mats, ed. (2015). Peasants and Poverty (Routledge Revivals): A Study of Haiti. Routledge. p. 350. ISBN 9781317593911.
  36. Rout, Leslie B. (July 30, 1976). The African Experience in Spanish America. CUP Archive. p. 285.
  37. "Groupe Immobilier d'Haiti". Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  38. Dominican Republic-Haiti Boundary
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