Factbook
Histoire de République dominicaine — Chronologie
Dates clés de l'histoire de République dominicaine, d'après le Factbook Magna et l'Encyclopédie universelle.
1492Christopher COLUMBUS explored and claimed the island on his first voyage in 1492; it became a springboard for Spanish conquest of the Caribbean and the American mainland.
1697In 1697, Spain recognized French dominion over the western third of the island, which in 1804 became Haiti.
1821The remainder of the island, by then known as Santo Domingo, sought to gain its own independence in 1821, but the Haitians conquered and ruled it for 22 years; it finally attained independence as the Dominican Republic in 1844.
1844Independence: 27 February 1844 (from Haiti).
1861In 1861, the Dominicans voluntarily returned to the Spanish Empire, but two years later, they launched a war that restored independence in 1865.
1930A legacy of unsettled and mostly non-representative rule followed, capped by the dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas TRUJILLO from 1930 to 1961.
1962Juan BOSCH was elected president in 1962 but was deposed in a military coup in 1963.
1965In 1965, the US led an intervention in the midst of a civil war sparked by an uprising to restore BOSCH.
1966In 1966, Joaquin BALAGUER defeated BOSCH in the presidential election.
1996BALAGUER maintained a tight grip on power for most of the next 30 years, until international reaction to flawed elections forced him to curtail his term in 1996.
2023Generation mix — fossil fuels: 82.7% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); solar: 5.5% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); wind: 4.9% of total installed capacity (2023 est.); hydroelectricity: 6% of total installed capacity (2023 est.) Energy use: 39.329 million Btu/person (2023 est.).
2023Industries: tourism, sugar processing, gold mining, textiles, cement, tobacco, electrical components, medical devices Agriculture: sugarcane, bananas, papayas, plantains, avocados, rice, milk, watermelons, vegetables, pineapples (2023) Electricity access: 98.1% (2022 est.).
2023Languages: Spanish (official) Religions: Evangelical 50.2%, Roman Catholic 30.1%, none 18.5%, unspecified 1.2% (2023 est.) Urban population: 84.4% of total population (2023).
2023Major urban areas: 3.524 million SANTO DOMINGO (capital) (2023) surging middle-income tourism, construction, mining, and telecommunications OECS economy; major foreign US direct investment and free-trade zones; developing local financial markets; improving debt management; declining poverty Inflation: 3.3% (2024 est.).
2024Military spending: 0.8% of GDP (2024 est.).
2025Population: 10.9 million (2025 estimate).
