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Unification of Hispaniola
1822–1844
Flag
Status	Haitian territory
Capital	Port-au-Prince
Common languages	French Spanish Haitian Creole
Government	Republic
President
• 1822–1843 (first)	Jean-Pierre Boyer
• 1843–1844 (last)	Charles Rivière-Hérard
Governor
• 1822–1832 (first)	Jérôme-Maximilien Bargella
• 1843–1844 (last)	Léo Hérard
History
• Haitian annexation	9 February 1822
• Independence	27 February 1844
Area
76,480 km2 (29,530 sq mi)
Currency	Gourde (HTG)
ISO 3166 code	HT
Preceded by Succeeded by Republic of Spanish Haiti Kingdom of Haiti First Republic (Dominican Republic) Second Empire of Haiti
Today part of	Haiti  Dominican Republic

The Unification of Hispaniola (Spanish: Ocupación militar haitiana de Santo Domingo de 1822) 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 9 February 1822 to 27 February 1844.^[1][2] The territory functioned as a self-governing entity with Dominican soldiers as overseers. Dominican citizens also had more rights than the Haitians who were under Jean-Pierre Boyer's code rural.^[3]

Military precedents

1804: Haitian Revolution

Black Haitian slaves expelled by force the French from French Saint Domingue.

For more information see: Haitian Revolution

1804: Haiti massacre of white Haitians

Self-declared Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines decrees that all Haitian whites (women and children included) should be eliminated without exceptions. This was a separate action from French military whites (which were already expelled) and was specifically aimed at the remaining local white civilian population. The act was carried out between February and April 1804. Fears of a genocide similar to the Haitian Massacre of 1804 were explicitly referred in the Confederate discourse during the American Civil War.^[4]

For further reading see: 1804 Haiti massacre

1805: Siege on the city Santo Domingo

In February 1805, Haitian forces, under Jean-Jacques Dessalines, invaded from the southern route in opposition of French-led approved slave raiding.^[5] 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.^[6][7] 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.^[8] The army killed approximately 400 inhabitants including some priests and took prisoners to Haiti.^[9] More people were killed on Dessalines's orders in the French-held portions of the island,^[10] including the towns of Monte Plata, Cotuí and La Vega and approximately 500 people of the northern town of Moca.^[6][8][11] The barrister Gaspar de Arredondo y Pichardo wrote, "40 [Dominican] children had their throats cut at the Moca's church, and the bodies found at the presbytery, which is the space that encircles the church's altar..."^[12] Survivors from the raids fled to western locations including Higüey through Cotuí as well as to other territories of the Spanish Antilles.^[13]

1806: Struggle to unite the South and North of Haiti

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 to 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 "Kingdome 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 overtake 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.

For further reading see: The struggle for unity (1806–20)

Upon unification of both French-side (Haitï) and Spanish-side (Dominican Republic) 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.^[14] 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.

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.

First unification under the French

During the second half of the eighteenth century the French side of the island quickly developed into the most prosperous plantation colony of the New World. French Saint-Domingue was dubbed the Pearl of the Antilles, as a result of the sugar plantations worked by African slaves; sugar had become an indispensable commodity in Europe.^[15] By the Peace of Basel of 22 July 1795, Spain ceded its two-third of the island to France in exchange for the return of the province of Guipuzcoa occupied by the French since 1793. Although Hispaniola was now unified under a single administration, it proved difficult for the French to consolidate their rule since their part of the island had been experiencing uprisings by elite mulattos and black freedman since 1791, and 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.

By 1795, the eastern side, what was once 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 sustenance farming and cattle ranching, and the population was much lower than in Haiti. 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 European descendants, mulattos, freedmen, and a few black slaves. Haiti, on the other hand, was nearing a million former slaves.

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 people revolted and the following year, with the help of a British 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.

Independence from Spain

On 9 November 1821, the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo was toppled by a group led by José Núñez de Cáceres, the colony's former administrator,^[16][17] and the rebels proclaimed independence from the Spanish crown on 1 December 1821.^[18] 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.^[17] On 1 December 1821 a constitutive act was ordered to petition the union of Spanish Haiti with Gran Colombia.

Prelude to the unification

Épinal 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.^{[18][19][20][21][page needed]}

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.^[22]

The Dominican nationalists who were against the unification of the island were at a serious disadvantage if they were to maintain their nation's sovereignty. At the time, they had an untrained infantry force. The population was eight to ten times less than Haiti's, and the economy was stalled. Haiti, on the other hand, had formidable armed forces, both in skill and sheer size, which had been hardened in nearly ten years of repelling French Napoleonic soldiers, and British soldiers, along with the local colonialists, and military insurgents within the country. The racial massacres perpetrated in the later days of the French–Haitian conflict only added to the determination of Haitians to never lose a battle.

Invasion of Dominican Republic

Part of a series on the
History of the Dominican Republic
Pre-Spanish Hispanola (-1492)
Captaincy General of Santo Domingo (1492-1795)
Battle of Santo Domingo Treaty of Ryswick Treaty of Aranjuez Peace of Basel
French Santo Domingo (1795–1809)
Spanish reconquest of Santo Domingo
España Boba (1809-1821)
Republic of Spanish Haiti (1821-1822)
Unification of Hispaniola
Republic of Haiti (1822-1844)
Dominican War of Independence
First Republic (1844-1861)
Spanish occupation (1861-1865)
Dominican Restoration War
Second Republic (1865-1916)
United States occupation (1916-1924)
Third Republic (1924-1965)
Dominican Civil War
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After promising his full support to several Dominican frontier governors and securing their allegiance^{[citation needed]}, 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), encountering little to no opposition.^[23] On 9 February 1822, Boyer formally entered the capital city, Santo Domingo after its ephemeral independence, where he was received by president José Núñez de Cáceres who offered to him the keys of the Palace; Boyer decorously declined the offer by quoting: "I have not come into this city as a conqueror but by the will of its inhabitants".^[21] The island was thus united from "Cape Tiburon to Cape Samana in possession of one government."^[18]

Occupation

Map of the island of Haiti (1839)

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.^[24] 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.

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,^[25][26]forms of slavery persisted in Haitian society.^[14] 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:^[27] 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

La Trinitaria meeting.

In 1838 a group of educated nationalists, among them, Juan Pablo Duarte, Matías Ramón Mella, and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez founded a secret society called La Trinitaria to gain independence from Haiti. The Trinitarios took advantage of a Haitian rebellion against the dictator Jean-Pierre Boyer. The Trinitarios won the loyalty of two Haitian regiments made up of Dominicans from the city of Santo Domingo. They rose up on 27 January 1843, ostensibly in support of the Haitian Charles Hérard who was challenging Boyer for the control of Haiti. Known as "The Reform" (La Reforma), the rebellious Dominicans seized the capital, Santo Domingo, on 24 March in the name of Hérard. The movement soon discarded its pretext of support for Hérard and now championed Dominican independence. In the meantime, Hérard overthrew Boyer and marched against Santo Domingo in order to resubjugate the Dominicans. Hérard entered the capital on 12 July executed some Dominicans, and threw many others into prison; Duarte escaped.

Upon returning to Haiti, Hérard, a mulatto, faced a rebellion by blacks in the continuing racial strife between those two elements within Haiti. The two regiments of Dominicans were among those used by Hérard to suppress the uprising. Their loyal participation convinced Hérard that the Dominican troublemakers had been eliminated.^[28] Surviving members of the La Trinitaria, now led by Tomás Bobadilla, planned another uprising. Once again, the conspirators persuaded the two Dominican-manned regiments to participate. On 27 February 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. Over the next decade, the Haitians conducted military campaigns against the newly formed Dominican Republic.

The Haitian military campaigns involved more than 40,000 Haitian soldiers against 15,000 Dominicans.^[29] Despite their numerical superiority, the Haitian forces were not supported by their compatriots, who feared that the cost of the conflict would drain the national economy. Furthermore, internal divisions prevented a succession of Haiti's presidents from forming a united front against the rebellious Dominicans.^[29]

Dominican Fight for Independence (1844)

For further reading: Dominican War of Independence

In February 1844 a group of Dominican independence fighters moved to restore their freedom from military-enforced Haitian rule in the Spanish-speaking two-thirds of the island. Called the La Trinitaria ("The Trinity"), this organization was composed of Spanish Creoles, mulattoes, and blacks,^[30] and led by Juan Pablo Duarte, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Matías Ramón Mella.^[31] Independence was proclaimed in the city of Santo Domingo on 27 February 1844, but on the following day a group of ex-slaves led by Santiago Basora, announced its opposition to the independentists.^[31] These men suspected that the rebels intended to reintroduce slavery; if this was true, the blacks were ready to fight alongside the Haitians.^[31]Trinitaria leaders realized the explosive nature of this situation and moved rapidly to defuse it. The very next day, 28 February provisional President Tomás Bobadilla and Vice-President Manuel Jimenes conferred with Basora and his supporters, and on the following day slavery was again declared abolished.^[31] The war to expel Haiti from Dominican soil was a great success: This was the last time ever Haiti would dominate the Dominican nation.

Aftermath

For the next ten years, Dominican military strongmen fought to preserve their country's independence from their Haitian neighbors. In March 1844, a 30,000-strong two-pronged attack was successfully repelled in both north and south. Four years later, it took a Dominican flotilla harassing Haitian coastal villages, land reinforcements in the south, and a British and French naval blockade to force the determined Haitian Emperor into a one-year truce. In the most thorough and intense encounter of all, Dominican irregulars armed with machetes sent Haitian troops into flight on all three fronts in 1855.^[32] Nearly a century later, the Dominican despot Rafael Trujillo revived the old hatreds between the Hispaniolan neighbors by a sudden ruthless massacre of up to 40,000 Haitians.^[33]

The constant military internal power struggles (constantly warring for over 50 years) would deteriorate Haiti's mighty military forces of 1805 to crippling levels, transforming itself into a local repression force at the service of a series of dictators and military warlords well into the 20th century.

In 1995 democratically-elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide disbanded the military forces, after he was overthrown by force in 1991. The local security was eventually handed over to United Nations' UNSTAMIH (French: MIUSTAH), from 2004 to 2017.

In 2017, president Jovenel Moïse proposed restoring their military forces that have been disbanded for over 22 years.

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.^[34]

Governors

• Jérôme-Maximilien Bargella (9 February 1822 – 1832)


• Bernard-Philippe-Alexis Carrié (1832 – February 1843)


• 
  Charles Rivière-Hérard (1843)


• Léo Hérard (1843 – 27 February 1844)

See also

• Dominican War of Independence


• Haitian Revolution


• History of the Dominican Republic


• History of Haiti

References