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Christopher Columbus visits the island, which he names Hispaniola, or "Little Spain".
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Spaniards set up first Spanish colony in Western hemisphere at Santo Domingo, which subsequently serves as capital of all Spanish colonies in America.
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Treaty of Ryswick gives western part of Hispaniola island (Haiti) to France and eastern part (Santo Domingo - the present Dominican Republic) to Spain.
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Uprising against Spanish rules is followed by brief period of independence.
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Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer marches his troops into Santo Domingo and annexes it.
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President Pedro Santana returns the Dominican Republic to Spanish rule. Spain withdraws from, and annuls its annexation of, the Dominican Republic following a popular revolt.
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US forces occupy the Dominican Republic following internal disorder.
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Constitutional government assumes control; US forces withdraw.
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General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina establishes personal dictatorship following the overthrow of President Horacio Vazquez. He rules the country until his assassination in 1961.
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Some 30,000 US troops invade the Dominican Republic following a pro-Bosch uprising.