With the establishment in the year 1492 of the first fort in Española, the name by which was baptized the island, began the process of mixing the different cultures that characterize the modern Dominican, son of the encounter of cultures, product of the crossbreed, “a mixed land in its beliefs and customs; a mixture of the Spanish conquistador and the African slave, with a drop of Indian in its roots.”

 The island Española was the first European colony to be occupied in the New
 World and in its capital Santo Domingo, named
 “Ciudad Primada de America” or First City
  in the Americas, began the first colonial
 cultural and social institutions, the first forts
 were built, the first churches and the first
 cathedral, the first hospital, the first
 monuments and the first university.

Even after the end of the XVI century, the island Española was a huge commodity due in grand part to its mineral riches and the system of sugar cane plantations.  However, the mineral ores were dried up, that led the population of the colony to dwindle. French navy ships that utilized the island for contraband exploited the situation to seize the westernmost part of the island and established the colony of Saint Dominique, based on the exploitation of the plantations with African slaves.

This change in the economic system represented a variation in the social hierarchy of our island, based, fundamentally, to the arrival of the slaves, creating a cultural fusion, that manifested immediately with the birth of different ethnic groups: mulattos, zambos, pure blacks and mixed ones, existing in Latin America to this very day.

The fruit of this cultural clash was cultural values, where you have to mention the culture that caused the biggest impact and the one that caused the least, even though the later has not totally disappeared.

  The closed economic control that maintained Spain with all
 its colonies was what originated the illegal trade of the other
 colonist powers of the time against the American people.
 This act proceeded in our island contraband and it caused
 the westernmost part of the island desolation and
 devastation.

 With the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, Spain allowed France
 to occupy the westernmost part of the island.

Two nations were born, sharing one island, the western part colonized by the French, the eastern part colonized by the Spaniards. The later territory was the cause of conflict and occupations by the different European colonizing powers of the time, the XVII and XVIII centuries; fights and ambitions that led to the existence of two states in the island, with an area of merely 77,000 square kilometers, where two cultures live side by side with obvious differences on their national histories, cultural roots, economic growth and political evolution.

The island’s division, brought with it direct consequences because of division itself, (Treaty Of Aranjuez 1777), constant wars between the colonial powers because of control of the island.

The warlike confrontations between the European powers that were fought directly in Europe brought negative results in the economic life of the people of the Caribbean and Santo Domingo was not the exception. The resignation of our identity is the product of our cultural diversity, the one that was mixed with the African slaves, arrogance, sexist beliefs, and the arrogance of the warlike European, covering the simple country-like taste of our Caribbean peoples, which have enriched the satisfaction of our identity.

With Latin America conquered, our people could not escape the wrath that was superimposed by the historic moment, (Treaty of Basilea 1795). Contraband, pirate attacks, invasions, economic crisis, dictatorships, coups, military occupations by foreign lands, civil wars, to reach where we are today.

Toussaint Louverture invaded in 1801 the western part of the island, France responded by sending Leclerc, brother-in law of Napoleon, with a strong army to reclaim the territory. The French ruled the entire island for six years, before they were expelled by a group of Dominicans who, under the orders of Juan Sanchez Ramirez, gave dominion of the island back to Spain.

  In 1822, after 12 years of relative tranquility, the Haitians once
 again invaded Santo Domingo, and lasted until the year 1844 when
 a group of Dominicans led by Juan Pablo Duarte, proclaimed the
 free state of the Dominican Republic. Internal differences prevented
 a central government to be founded and a new annexation to Spain
 (1861-1863), caused the so-called Guerra De La Restauracion
 (War of the Restoration) and the return back to the Dominican
 Republic.

From 1916 to 1924, North American troops occupied the Dominican Republic; they reoccupied the Dominican Republic again in 1965 under the false pretence that the coup, of 24^th of April of that year, was intended to give power back to Juan Bosch, he was communist. Bosch had won the first democratic election since the dictatorship of Rafael L. Trujillo, which lasted 31 years.

In 1966 and until 1978 the democratic system is reinstalado and the political stability is pronounced with selections that are celebrated every four years:

• 1966-1978 Dr. Joaquin Balaguer was president from the reformist party (PRSC),  for three Presidency terms.
• 1978-1982 Don Antonio Guzman was the president from the revolutionary party, (PRD).
• 1982-1986 Dr. Salvador Jorge Blanco, (PRD).
• 1986-1996 once again Dr. Joaquin Balaguer was President (PRSC).  Two extra because of a new electoral reform.
• 1996-2000 Dr. Leonel Fernandez was the President, from the Liberal Party (PLD).
• 2000 to date, Eng. Hipolito Mejia is the president (PRD).

Bandera y Escudo

 The Dominican flag was conceived by Juan Pablo Duarte, who initially just added
 a white cross on the Haitian flag, which is divided
 horizontally in two equal parts with the blue on top and
 the red in the bottom.

  Progressively it transformed itself into what it is today, divided in four with its
 color inverted in different angels, with the blue high in the
 left and the bottom right and the red in the high right and
 in the bottom left. The symbol is in the center.

 The centered symbol contains its classical shape with a
 pointy bottom and closed on top of two angled triangles
 with its side pointing down, with the national colors.  In
 the center of the symbol six shafts that hold six flags, four
in the background, they sustain an open Bible with a cross in the middle.

On the left side of the symbol there is a small branch of laurel (representing immortality), and to the right a branch of a palm tree (representing freedom), all of it united by red ribbon that symbolizes glory, with the words “Republica Dominicana” (Dominican Republic) inscribed in it. On top, there’s a blue ribbon with the words: Dios, Patria y Libertad (God, Native Land and Liberty).

Historical Places

 The colonial zone of the city of Santo Domingo is the richest of the Caribbean in
 architecture and memories of the colonial times.
 Impressive monuments well preserved, forts and
 churches made of bricks and stones with arcs and
 columns; alleys, stone streets, ruins, and houses of
  important colonial historical figures turn the zone
  into a marvelous trip to the past.

 The Spanish architectural heritage that predominates
 the stone houses where life revolved around the
 Spanish patio or central patio, decorated with
 fountains, vegetation and birds that confirm the Arabic
 presence in the Spanish culture of that time and so in
 our colonial architecture as well.

Some of the places that you can’t miss if you visit this recreation to the past are: La Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Encarnacion (Church of Our Lady of Incarnation), Catedral Primada De America (First Church Of America), El Alcazar de Colon (The House of Columbus), Las Ruinas de San Francisco (The Ruins of San Francisco), Las Ruinas del Hospital Nicolas de Bari (The Ruins of The Hospital of Nicolas de Bari), La Casa del Cordon (The House of Cordon), La Fortaleza Ozoma (The Ozoma Fort), El Museo De las Casas Reales (The Museum of Royal Houses), El Mausoleo de los Proceres (The Mausoleum of Proceres) y La Calle de Las Damas (The Street of The Ladies).

 In the city of Puerto Plata, the fort of San Felipe is the still standing fort of the time.

In Yuma, close to Higüey and Punta Cana is
the house where resided Ponce de
Leon, conquistador of other territories in
the Americas.