Important dates in the history of the Dominican Republic:
1492 – Christopher Columbus visits the island and names it Hispaniola, or “Little Spain.”
1496 – Spain establishes its first colony in the Western Hemisphere in Santo Domingo, which subsequently becomes the capital of all its colonies in the Americas.
1697 – The Treaty of Ryswick ends the Nine Years’ War (also known as the War of the Grand League or the War of the Augsburg League), ceding the western part of Hispaniola to France and the eastern part to Spain.
1795 – Spain cedes sovereignty over the island of Hispaniola to France.
1808 – Spain recaptures Santo Domingo following a Creole rebellion.
1821 – Rebellion against Spanish rule is followed by a short period of independence.
1822 – Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer leads an army into Santo Domingo and annexes it.
1844 – Boyer is overthrown and Santo Domingo declares its independence and becomes the Dominican Republic.
1861-64 – President Pedro Santana returns the Dominican Republic to Spanish rule.
1865 – The Second Dominican Republic is proclaimed.
1906 – The Dominican Republic and the United States sign a 50-year treaty in which the U.S. buys the country’s debt and takes over its customs department.
1916-1924 – US troops occupy the Dominican Republic following civil war.
1924 – A constitutional government takes power and US troops withdraw.
1930-1961 – After the overthrow of President Horacio Vásquez, General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina established a personal dictatorship and ruled until his assassination in 1961.
1962 – Juan Bosch, founder of the leftist Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), is elected president in the first democratic elections in nearly 40 years.
1963 – Bosch is ousted in a military coup.
1965 – In response to an uprising by supporters of the boss, approximately 30,000 US troops invade the Dominican Republic.
1966 – Joaquín Balaguer, a protege of Trujillo, is elected president.
1978 – Silvestre Antonio Guzmán is elected president, releases around 200 political prisoners, relaxes media censorship, and expels Balaguer supporters from the army.
2001 – A US jet bound for Santo Domingo crashes in New York, killing all 255 people on board.
2005 – Congress approves a free trade agreement with the United States and Central American countries. The Dominican Republic joins the agreement in 2007.
2018 – The Dominican Republic ends its long-standing diplomatic ties with Taiwan and establishes diplomatic ties with China instead.
