However, with the decline of the sugar industry in the colony the importation of slaves decreased, leading to a rise in free blacks, which eventually became the majority within the Afro-Dominican demographic by the late 1700s.

The Santo Domingo colony, the only European possession yet in America, had already produced a devastating effect on the Taino, Lucayan (Arawaks), and Kalinga (Caribs) populations.

As the Hispaniolan Tainos (and Cigüayos) declined during the first couple of years of colonization, the colonial administration run by Christopher Columbus had gone against the wishes of Isabel I of Castile and had begun the first European slave trade on the western side of Atlantic.

Expanding the colonization project to Puerto Rico and requesting the Crown permission to purchase enslaved Africans were the only two solutions colonists seemed capable of conceiving.

Though unrestrained by religious piety, Ferdinand, who was the ideal Prince in Machiavelli's imagination, was wary in the extreme of potential Conquistador-owned kingdoms (medieval style) in his new possessions, and of slave rebellions in the colonies.

[19] In 1521, the first major slave rebellion was[15] led by 20 Senegalese Muslims of Wolof origin, in an ingenio (sugar factory) east of the Santo Domingo colony.

However, as industry moved from sugar to livestock, racial and caste divisions became less important, eventually leading to a blend of cultures—Spanish, African, and indigenous—which would form the basis of national identity for Dominicans.

[22] Meanwhile, by this point, free blacks had consisted the majority of Afro-descendant Dominicans, who enjoyed some degree of social and political freedom in Santo Domingo.

By the late 1780s, free people of color in the island were inspired by the French Revolution to seek an expansion of their rights, while also involving enslaved Africans to fight for their cause.

These would transpire into a series of slave revolts to bring about that began in 1795, which would intensify following the Treaty of Basel, which led to the cession of Santo Domingo to France that same year.

In 1801, Louverture seized the colony from France and abolished slavery, freeing about 40,000 enslaved persons, and prompting much of the planter of that part of the island to flee to Cuba and Puerto Rico.

However, after learning of a French ship believed to be heading towards Haiti to attack the country, Dessalines called off his invasion, and retreated through the Cibao, setting entire municipalities on fire, slaughtering many civilians he encountered, and committed numerous atrocities with no regards to race, sex or age.

In a church of Moca, two young black girls, Maria and Nicolasa de Medina, were able to survive the massacre, but had to witness the horrors of their entire family be put to death by the invading army.

[22] Duarte, a strong advocate for racial unity, sought to establish a nation that guaranteed equal rights to all Dominicans irrespective of race and color.

[30][31] Another example was Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, (also born to free parents), a young lawyer who would later rise to prominence during the independence struggles against Haiti, France, and Spain.

Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, black laborers from the British West Indies came to work in the sugar plantations on the east of the island.

The towns with the highest proportion of whites was Pimentel with 73%, followed by Castillo, Gaspar Hernández, La Peña, Villa Rivas, San José de las Matas, Jánico, Esperanza, Baní and Santiago.

[38][39] The Ministry of Public Works and Communications uses racial classification in the driver's license, the categories used being white, mestizo, mulatto, black, and yellow.

[11][40] The Dominican Republic is one of the few countries in Latin America where the majority of the population is made up of multiracials of predominately European and African descent, with a lesser degree of Amerindian admixture.

[45] Though, African ancestry is common throughout the Dominican Republic, today it is more prevalent in eastern areas such as San Pedro de Macorís, La Romana, and the Samaná Peninsula, as well as along the Haitian border, particularly the southern parts of the border region; it is least prevalent in the Cibao Valley (especially within the Central Sierra region), and to a lesser extent, in some rural communities in El Seibo and La Altagracia provinces, and the western half of the National District as well.

[citation needed] Dominicans of Haitian ancestry live scattered across the country, however, communities in the border provinces of Elías Piña and Independence where they predominate among the population, highlighting the presence of European football fields, a very popular sport in Haiti.

Cocolos, blacks descended from immigrants from other Caribbean islands, especially the Lesser Antilles nations, often settled San Pedro and La Romana.

[48] African cultural remnants seen in the Dominican Republic in many different aspects, including music, dance, magic-religious beliefs, cuisine, economy, entertainment, motor habits, and language.

F. Lizardo, Dominican folklorist, by contrast, thinks that this origin is in the Bara tribe of Madagascar, who came to the island in the eighteenth century and brought a dance called merengue that has spread throughout the Caribbean.

[33] The first Afro-Dominican models featured on the cover of Vogue Mexico are Licett Morillo, Manuela Sánchez, Annibelis Baez and Ambar Cristal Zarzuela for the September 2019 edition.

In rural areas, these institutions are in the form of groups of farmers who come together to collaborate on certain agricultural tasks such as planting, clearing of forests, land preparation, etc.

[16] As in most parts of Latin America the idea of black inferiority compared to the white race has been historically propagated due to the subjugation of African slaves.

[54] The Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, who governed between 1930 and 1961, tenaciously promoted an anti-Haitian sentiment and used racial persecution and nationalistic fervor against Haitian migrants.

Many Dominicans (men and women) often prefer lighter romantic partners because of the more European features and to "Mejorar la raza" (better the race) in regards to starting a family.

[citation needed] In 1937, Trujillo, in an event known as the Masacre del Perejil (Parsley Massacre), ordered the Army to kill Haitians living on the border.