17 of 17 events · 1495 – 2019
Island sovereign state in the Caribbean Sea
27 March 1495
The Battle of Vega Real, also called the Battle of the Holy Hill or the Battle of Jáquimo, took place on 24 March 1495 on the island of Hayti between an indigenous alliance and Spanish forces, commanded by Christopher Columbus, Bartholomew Columbus and Alonso de Ojeda, with the help of indigenous people led by Guacanagaríx. The battle resulted in the defeat and capture of the Taíno leader Caonabo, ending indigenous resistance on Hayti.
1 January 1586
The Battle of Santo Domingo (1586) or the Capture of Santo Domingo was a military and naval action fought on 1 January 1586, of the recently declared Anglo-Spanish War that resulted in the assault and capture by English soldiers and sailors of the Spanish city of Santo Domingo governed by Cristóbal de Ovalle on the Spanish island of Hispaniola. The English were led by Francis Drake and was part of his Great Expedition to raid the Spanish New World in a kind of preemptive strike.
22 July 1795 – 9 July 1809
In the history of the Dominican Republic, the period of Era de Francia ('Era of France', 'French Era', 'Age of France' or 'French Period') occurred in 1795 when France acquired the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, annexed it into Saint-Domingue and briefly came to acquire the whole island of Hispaniola by the way of the Treaty of Basel, allowing Spain to cede the eastern province as a consequence of the French Revolutionary Wars. Despite its brevity, it produced important changes in society, especially in the demographic aspect, as there was a massive emigration of settlers (especially…
1844–1856
The Dominican War of Independence (Spanish: Guerra de Independencia Dominicana) was a war of independence that began when the Dominican Republic declared independence from the Republic of Haiti on February 27, 1844 and ended on January 24, 1856. Before the war, the island of Hispaniola had been united for 22 years when the newly independent nation, previously known as the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, was unified with the Republic of Haiti in 1822.
30 March 1844
The Battle of Santiago (Spanish: Batalla de Santiago de 1844) was the second major battle of the Dominican War of Independence and was fought on the 30 March 1844, at Santiago de los Caballeros, Santiago Province. Although outnumbered, Dominican troops, part of the Army of The North and led by General José María Imbert, defeated Haitian Army troops led by General Jean-Louis Pierrot.
18 March 1861 – 15 July 1865
The Annexation of the Dominican Republic to Spain (Spanish: Anexión de la República Dominicana a España) or Reintegration of Santo Domingo (Reintegración de Santo Domingo) was a four-year period between 1861 and 1865 during which the former Spanish possession of Santo Domingo in the eastern part of the island of Hispaniola, then the independent Dominican Republic, was occupied and annexed by the Spanish Empire, following the request of Dominican dictator Pedro Santana. The period coincided with the American Civil War, during which the United States was unable to enforce the Monroe Doctrine.
December 1911 – November 1912
The Dominican Civil War that lasted from 5 December 1911 until 30 November 1912 was the bloodiest in the history of the Dominican Republic. It began as an uprising in the northwest of the country.
27 December 1924
The Military Government of Santo Domingo (Spanish: Gobierno Militar de Santo Domingo) was a provisional military government established during the American occupation of the Dominican Republic that lasted from May 15, 1916 to September 18, 1924. The United States aimed to force the Dominicans to repay their large debts to European creditors, whose governments threatened military intervention.
4 August 1946
The 1946 Dominican Republic earthquake occurred on August 4 at 13:51 AST near Samaná, Dominican Republic. It was the largest earthquake to occur in the instrumental era in the Caribbean.
19 November 1961
The Rebellion of the Pilots was a military uprising carried out by six members of the Dominican Military Aviation (today the Dominican Air Force) on November 19, 1961, that put a definitive end to the rule of 31 years of the Trujillo dictatorship by forcing the exile of the Trujillo family from the country. It prevented Ramfis Trujillo, José Arismendy Trujillo and Héctor Bienvenido Trujillo Molina from returning to power and restoring the regime led by their brother Rafael Trujillo.
25 September 1963
The 1963 Dominican coup d'état was a coup d'état that took place on 25 September 1963 against President Juan Bosch in the Dominican Republic. Juan Bosch had been the first democratically elected president after the assassination of the former dictator Rafael Trujillo, but he faced criticism due to his policies, which were seen as leftist.
24 April 1965 – 3 September 1965
The Dominican Civil War (Spanish: Guerra Civil Dominicana), also known as the April Revolution (Spanish: Revolución de Abril), took place between April 24 and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democratically elected president Juan Bosch ousted the militarily-installed dictator Donald Reid from office.
28 April 1965 – September 1966
The Dominican Civil War (Spanish: Guerra Civil Dominicana), also known as the April Revolution (Spanish: Revolución de Abril), took place between April 24 and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democratically elected president Juan Bosch ousted the militarily-installed dictator Donald Reid from office.
15 February 1970
On February 15, 1970, Dominicana de Aviación Flight 603, en route from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to San Juan, Puerto Rico crashed into the Caribbean Sea shortly after takeoff. The crash killed all 97 passengers and 5 crew on board, making it the deadliest aviation disaster to occur within the Dominican Republic until the crash of Birgenair Flight 301 in 1996, in the Caribbean Sea, leaving 189 dead.
6 February 1996
Birgenair Flight 301 was a chartered flight by Turkish-managed Birgenair partner Alas Nacionales from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic to Frankfurt, Germany, via Gander, Canada, and Berlin, Germany. On 6 February 1996, the Boeing 757 operating the route crashed shortly after take-off from Puerto Plata's Gregorio Luperón International Airport, killing all 189 people on board.
20 March 2003 – 15 December 2011
The Iraq War (Arabic: حرب العراق, romanized: ḥarb al-ʿirāq), also referred to as the Second Gulf War (Gulf War II), was a protracted armed conflict in Iraq from 2003 to 2011. It began in March 2003 with the invasion by a United States–led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein.
1 December 2019
The global COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It spread to other parts of Asia and then worldwide in early 2020.