Hema: Hi Mireille. We're back with another episode of the Moreish Podcast. We ended last week with this little tidbit. The country that we're talking about today is one side of the island of Hispaniola and has the distinction of having both the highest peak and the lowest point in the Caribbean. What are we talking about today?
Mireille: We are talking about Dominican Republic.
Hema:Before we get started, Mireille, have you ever been to the Dominican Republic?
Mireille: I went to Punta Cana, when it was just starting to open up. I'm talking about the airport was just like a roof on stilts, but I just stayed at a resort, so I don't think you could really call that visiting the country, engaging with locals.
Hema: I've been to the Dominican Republic, but much like you, I was coming off of a cruise ship and it was a very brief few hours on the island.
Let's dive right into a little bit of the history of the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Dominican Republic takes up about two thirds of the eastern side of the island, and it is located east of Jamaica and west of Puerto Rico.
Many people know the Dominican Republic for the beaches, the all-inclusive resorts, the eco lodges, and with over 83,900 hotel rooms, it has the highest number of rooms in the Caribbean. We do need to keep in mind that it covers an area of about 44,000 square kilometers or 18,700 square miles.
Nearby Jamaica is approximately 11,000 square kilometers or 4,200 square miles, so in comparison with the size of the land and the number of hotel rooms, that makes sense.
You may hear English speaking people refer to it as the Dominican Republic or the Dominican, and we'll probably use both of those interchangeably today.
Mireille: In New York most people here just call it DR.
Hema: There is quite a history to the island as a whole, which we're gonna cover today, and then we will cover a little bit more of the other half of the island in our episode on Haiti. The history of the Dominican Republic has been described as rife with violence, tyranny, rebellions, pirates, repressive regimes, ethnic tensions, US military interventions, political and civil disorder.
So let's get into it. Currently the population of the Dominican Republic is around 11 million people with a breakdown of approximately self-identified 70% mixed, 16% black, 14% white. It is clear that the majority of the population has a mixed background, and that can then be further broken down into 58% Indio or Mestizo, which is Indigenous and European, 16% Moreno, Indigenous and White, and 8% Mulatto, which is Indigenous and Black.
Mireille: That's really interesting, the Moreno, 'cause most people I know, any Dominican person who is, I would say black presenting in any way is referred to as Moreno or Morena, they call me that. So it's interesting in that classifications, it's marked as indigenous and white.
Hema: It is interesting how they differentiate and classify, and I think as we get a little bit more into this, it will become a little bit more apparent why that is. So this breakdown does need a bit of explanation before we really dive into the history of the people and I'm going to do my best to explain what I've learned.
There is colorism or shadeism at play here with people who have darker skin or traits of blackness or African ancestry being seen as inferior. This seems to be why under mixed heritage, there are further breakdowns. It seems that people who have a mixed background want to separate and acknowledge their European or Indigenous heritage, identifying as Mestizo or Indio and not identifying with blackness or a mixed indigenous and black background, which was classified as mulatto.
There seems to be fluidity in how people identify themselves and skin color as well as facial features play a role. Then to further confuse things, it was noted in one source that those that identify as Indio has more to do with skin color, people of mixed ancestry with a skin color between light and dark.
Even though those with a lighter skin color or correlated with whiteness are perceived as having a higher social status, socioeconomic status also plays a role, which is why there are two mixed classifications, including European or white. The people identified as Moreno have a mixed heritage, but a poorer or lower socioeconomic status.
Mireille: That's just so interesting to me because as far as my experience growing up around a lot of Dominican people here in New York, anyone who can be any type of mix, but you can clearly see is in some way indigenous presenting - whether they have straight black hair or whatever they're called, Indio and people who are mixed with African and are more black presenting in modern vernacular. That's Moreno.
Hema: It is interesting and I'm gonna reference a book that I found by Dr. April Mayes called The Mulatto Republic: Class Race and Dominican National Identity. “In the Mulatto Republic, April Mays looks at the many ways Dominicans define themselves through race, skin, color, and culture. She explores significant historical factors and events that have led the nation for much of the 20th century to favor privileged European ancestry and Hispanic cultural norms such as the Spanish language and Catholicism. Mays seeks to discern whether contemporary Dominican identity is a product of the Trujillo regime and therefore only a legacy of authoritarian rule or is representative of a nationalism unique to an island, divided into two countries long engaged with each other in ways that are sometimes cooperative and at other times conflicted.”
Mireille: That sounds like a great book. I'd also like to recommend there's a PBS special by Dr. Henry Louis Gates and it's called Black in Latin America. There are several episodes and the first episode is on the Dominican Republic. In the US. I did check it is available on Amazon Prime, although you have to have a PBS subscription so you can check in your country to see if you can get that special as well.
Hema: The indigenous population, the Taino people inhabited the entire island of Hispaniola prior to the arrival of the Europeans. If you have listened to previous episodes, we've talked about the Arawak people and the Kalinago or Carib people, but we haven't yet spoken about the Taino people. The Dominican Republic tourism website hyphenates the name to Taino-Arawak with the Taino being a subgroup or descendants of the Arawak people who came from South America.
Columbus arrived in 1492 and called it the Pearl of the Caribbean. He wrote about the beauty of the forested mountains, the large river valleys and the peaceful people. The following year, the colonization of the island began. Approximately 1300 men arrived from Spain and established Nueva Isabella, a small colony on the North coast, but they were soon forced out by the indigenous people.
There were reports of gold in the south of the island so in 1496, the Spaniards went south and founded the city of Santo Domingo. The entire island became a springboard for the Spanish conquest of the Caribbean. They built it up. The oldest cathedral and hospital in the Americas was established during this time.
The first university in the region was chartered in Santo Domingo in 1538. Class, and caste lines were drawn and the Roman Catholic Church held spiritual authority. It was during this time that the Spanish established a slave based society. The Taino people were forced into labor panning for gold under deplorable conditions.
Around this time in an area near present day,Port-au-Prince in Haiti, the Spanish governor of the colony assembled the Taino Chiefs for a feast, but instead set fire to the building and they were burned to death. Those Taino chiefs who didn't die were tortured and between diseases, violence and famine, the indigenous population was decimated.
In addition to the gold mines, which I just spoke about, there were lush lands for agriculture. There was a prosperous sugar industry, and they needed more people to do the work on the plantations. It was at this time that the colony began the transatlantic slave trade. Between 1532 and 1788, approximately 35,000 enslaved Africans embarked on ships to Hispaniola.
Hema: These ships flew flags from Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands. In the years of the Spanish occupation, the Taino population had shrunk considerably and within another generation, there was the mixing of the indigenous people with the Spanish colonizers and the enslaved Africans. And you'll remember at the beginning we talked that much of the current culture is of mixed heritage.
When the gold deposits were becoming exhausted, the Spanish moved on to what they considered more lucrative conquests in Peru and Mexico where they could mine silver and gold and with most of the European Spaniards gone, Hispaniola was neglected.
During this time of neglect, the pirates began raiding the island and other islands in the area. The King of Spain ordered the remaining inhabitants to move inward for protection from the pirates. There were raids by the British, the Dutch, and the French, who eventually established bases on the north and the west coasts of the island.
In 1655, the French colony gave the name Saint-Domingue, and in 1697, Spain recognized that the French had dominion over the western third of the island, which later became Haiti in 1804. The population of the French colony grew faster than the Spanish colony, and the island became one of the richest in the Caribbean with large sugar plantations and even more enslaved African people brought to the island.
In 1795, Spain officially ceded the Eastern two thirds of the island, which is now Dominican Republic to France, and this came as a result of their defeat in the European wars. Under the French rule, the economy really declined, and it was around this time, the enslaved people launched a rebellion in Saint-Domingue against the atrocious conditions under which the black people were forced to labor and for political rights for the mixed race freed men.
Toussaint Louverture who was a black man, was born into bondage in Saint-Domingue and was enslaved for much of his early life, but during this time he was free and he led a revolution. The French, British and Haitian armies fought for control of the island. The Haitian army took over the western part of the island from the French. Dominican colonists, and the British took over the eastern part, and it is said that in 1801, Louverture succeeded in unifying the island.
In 1804 French troops attempted and failed to reestablish slavery and during that time, the Republic of Haiti was proclaimed. 1809 Santo Domingo was reunited with Spain. Two years later, the French left, and in 1821, a Spanish Lieutenant Governor declared independence from Spain and gave the name the independent state of Spanish Haiti.
Jean Pierre Boyer, who was the president of Haiti from 1818 to 1843, led the Haitian forces to overrun the eastern part of the island, which began the 22 year occupation. The Haitians ruled, took over the government, severed church ties with Rome, forced out the ruling class and attempted to obliterate the European and Hispanic traditions.
Boyer freed the enslaved people, but this time period of Haitian occupation was described by Dominican historians as cruel with Haitian troops confiscating food and other supplies, and causing ethnic tensions.
In the 1830s, Juan Pablo Duarte, who was born on the island but went to Europe for schooling returned and organized a secret society to fight the Haitians and free the eastern part of the island, Dominican Republic. In 1844, independence was declared. Around this time there was a failed attempt to oust the Haitians. There was an earthquake, a civil war in Haiti, which we'll likely talk more about in the Haiti episode. And I will note here that Duarte and other freedom fighters were forced into exile.
Shortly after in 1861, the Dominicans voluntarily returned to the Spanish Empire after a tumultuous time led by Pedro Santana and Buena Ventura Baez two dictatorial presidents. Santana spent heavily on the military and bankrupted the country and invited Spain to reclaim its former colony. After a brief occupation, Spain withdrew and Baez approached the US.
There were years of civil unrest, changes in power and presidents. The United States at this time expanded their interests in the Caribbean, and this included the Dominican Republic. In 1916, after the political structure collapsed, the U.S. assumed complete control. This occupation lasted until 1924, during which time they placed thousands of troops in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which it held control over until 1934.
The U.S. improved the infrastructure - roads, schools, sanitation, facilities, and communication, which allowed US owned sugarcane companies to expand their operations on the island. It was during this US occupation that baseball, a sport that is still part of the culture, was introduced. We're gonna jump forward a little bit to the dictatorship of Raphael Leonidas Trujillo from 1930 to 1961.
This is modern history, but it is important in the culture and the history of the island. It’s said that he became president through political maneuvering and torture, and his time in office is described as one of the longest and cruelest in modern history. He officially held the position until 1938 when he chose a successor and then resumed the official position from 1942 to 1952, but continued to rule by force until he was assassinated on May 30th, 1961. Trujillo was born to a middle class family in San Cristobal and was raised in a small rural town. His parents were of Spanish, Haitian, and Dominican descent, and they had 11 children. It's important to note here that his true background is unknown because he hired someone to rewrite his family history once he came into power.
You can read a little bit more about his upbringing and early life in a link that we'll share in the show notes. In 1919, he was trained for the country's first municipal police force by the US Marines, who at the time were occupying the Dominican Republic.
He moved up in the ranks and in 1924 was made second in command, and then a year later, commander in chief. In 1930, then President Horatio Vasquez faced revolts and Trujillo campaigned in the presidential elections. He created a secret police force to torture and murder supporters of the opposing candidate and won the election by a landslide.
In his first term, Santo Domingo was devastated by a hurricane, and he used this as an excuse to impose martial law. He imposed emergency taxes and seized the bank accounts of his opposition, used his political power for personal profit, held complete control of the military, enforced censorship, appointed family members to key office, took control of major industries and financial institutions, and was known to treat Haitian migrants with disregard for their civil liberties.
In 1937, he orchestrated the massacre of thousands of Haitian immigrants known as the Parsley Massacre.
Mireille: And his legacy continues. sadly, as a result of the anti Haitian sentiments that he started, the discord has continued to this day.
Hema: During his reign, he was greatly feared and also somewhat admired for his ability to control national affairs and promote public works projects. The political and economic stability attracted foreign investors attracted grants from the U.S. government and the foreign news media referred to this time as the Dominican Miracle downplaying his abuses.
There is so much more to the history of the Dominican Republic, which is intertwined with the history of Haiti, and this just grazes the surface with a history including Taino, Spanish, French, and African people, we can see why the culture is influenced by all of these people.
Mireille: Before we get into the food, I would also like to mention a Dominican author Julia Alvarez. There are two books especially I would like to highlight. And one is How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, which is about a family moving from DR to New York City and the challenges of moving from one culture to another.
I think just about any immigrant can relate to this book, which is why it was so popular. Now In the Time of the Butterflies is the true life story of the Mirabal Sisters who were killed by the Trujillo regime. It was also made into a movie with Salma Hayek and Mark Anthony.
Being that we share the same islands, there are many foods that both Dominicans and Haitians make that are similar although the Haitian side is going to always have a little more spice. Like many other Caribbean foods, we love the scotch bonnet pepper. Where Dominican food is flavorful with the use of aromatic spices and herbs, it's not spicy. One similarity is both Dominican cake and Haitian cake are characterized by being extremely light and airy, and this came from the colonizers.
We all know that France is known for their pastries and these baking techniques were brought to the island of Hispaniola
Dominican food is a fusion of African, Indigenous, Arab, and both Spanish and French influences. Many people credit the Spanish for bringing the popularity of rice and beans to the Americas, but actually you have to remember, Spain was controlled by the Moors for many years. So this popular combination actually has its roots in North Africa. In fact, in Cuba, the dish is literally known as Los Moros y Los Cristianos with the rice representing the Christian colonizers and the beans representing the Moors. In Dominican Republic, the dish of meat, rice, and beans is called La Bandera - the flag as the colors of the national dish is supposed to represent the colors of the flag. The red is the beans, the white is the rice, and with a little poetic interpretation, the meat is the blue. Both the beans and the chicken are cooked in the style of a guisado, which is basically a stewed preparation in a tomato-based sauce. This is served with plain steamed rice.
Rice and beans are a complete protein giving you all of your essential amino acids and the stewed chicken or beef gives you extra protein for a hearty, delicious, filling and healthy meal. Sharing the same island, you'll find versions of the same dish on both sides. While it is not the national dish, Diri, Sos Pwa and Poulet en Sos is basically Haiti's version of the same dish. While in DR, tt will be served with tostones and in Haiti it would be served with Bannan Peze - two versions of the same food. Both the recipes for the Dominican version and the Haitian ones I referenced will be included in the show notes.
Thanks for joining us this week as we explore the Dominican Republic or Republica Dominicana on the Moreish Podcast.
Hema: Come back next week to find out which Caribbean nation we are tackling next. Here's a hint. It is a tri-island state, one country consisting of three small islands. Head over to Instagram or TikTok and leave us a comment to tell us where you think we are venturing next.
Mireille: Don't forget to check out the show notes for resources, recipes, and ways you can support our independently produced podcast.
Hema: Bye.
Mireille: Bye.
Resources
https://www.latinpost.com/articles/157268/20221026/traditional-latin-american-diet-history-america-rice-beans.htm
https://www.slavevoyages.org/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Dominican-Republic
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dominican_Republic
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/dominican-republic/
https://www.godominicanrepublic.com/
Dr. April Mayes The Mulatto Republic: Class, Race, and Dominican National Identity
https://www.history.com/news/toussaint-louverture-haiti-revolution
https://www.biography.com/political-figures/rafael-trujillo
https://www.amazon.com/Black-in-Latin-America/dp/B00DKRY2YK
https://www.amazon.com/Garcia-Girls-Lost-Their-Accents/dp/156512975X
https://www.amazon.com/Time-Butterflies-Julia-Alvarez-ebook/dp/B00APBPAZE/
Recipes:
https://www.dominicancooking.com/17570/la-bandera-dominicana-our-traditional-lunch-meal