Haiti and the Dominican Republic have been on and off for about four hundred years at this point. So why can't the two stay together?

A special thanks to my Patreon supporters below.

Jens Koch-Nommensen
Øystein Alsaker
Carl Österbrand
Sergio M. Vela
Heath Robertson
Matthew Hogan
Dave Brondsema
Michael Kram
Hasmuffin 
Franco La Bruna
Ethan 
Bradley chaulk
Azlow the Lion
Spencer W
Don Bonnigan
Southside Mitch
Ian Whitcomb
John
Justin Kubusch
Adam Barrett
JakeBak0905
Ryan Schindeler
Person
Ray Charles Barkley
Sean D.
Alex Teplyakov
Philip Yip
BeninPrince51
Jane Sumpter
Joooooshhhhhh 
Shauna K
Martha Grondin
Ariel David Moya Sequeira
sharpie660
imperialgerman
Andrea Dekrout
Farquhar Ramshackle 
Nathan Mendelsohn
Shion
Paul Munro
Piotr Wojnowski
Vance Christiaanse
Mario Peshev
Joshua Rackstraw
Aaron Conaway
Phoenix Fats
Tom Ebert
DocOzz13 .
S. Marisol Asselta
Christopher Godfrey
Travis Mount
Andreas Mosand
Barry
Konstantin Bredyuk
Joshua Schneider
Colonel Oneill
Tailsdoll
Steven Gibson
Jack Nelson
Tony Belmonte
zockotron
Erik Hare
Dr. Schtnizel
ConspiracyPizza 
Adrian Marine
MGS2600
Roman Kynčl
Angel Aguiñaga
Nicholas Menghini
Windischgraetz
Contdoko12
Shakira Graham
Jack Wicks
Ivaer 
Baste 
Porkmeister
Andrew F
Zhao Liu
Andy McGehee
William Swiacki
Ron Johnson
Jamie van Brewen
Jake Faust
Phillip Gathright
D. Mahlik
Shawn Morse
Nick Macarius
Bret Allan
Matthew Toles
Nolan Peale
Tactical_Jackal 
Katie Flinn
HelloAgain
Thomas McGraw
Keith A. Layton
Jacob Zachs
Joe DeVito
Bradley Backoff
GrokThis
Sahni 
Ciege Engine
John Garcia
Dana Spurgeon
Snowdon
Vilena5
Chris Winther
Andrew Patane
Allen Rines
Michael Galloway
Tiffany Twisted
mgnesium.poetry
Carl Blanton
Chase Labiste
Sethars
Bernice 
Leena Al-Souki
Matt Reed
Zach Rust
Liam Gilleece
Harley Raptopoulos
Serius_Loyola
blaZzinG_FurY
Zachary Pascalar
Michael Myers
Chris Weisel
Mickey Landen
Imperial Pony
Tim Stone
Dullis 
george tyler
Fabrizio Zagonel
Clayton Schuman
William Adderholdt
KNSTRKTVST
Ben Drums 24
Brian George
ThePalestRose
Greyceful
Joel Cromwell
B Dryad
Perry Gagne
bas mensink
TH
David van Reyk
Matthew O'Connor
Wilhelm Screamer
Logical Insanity
ARandomPaperClip
Aaron Larrow
Bodo Nuber
Justin Short
JAY ALAN EDELMAN
No way
Anthony McCann
Jason Gould
Łukasz Burchard
Ryan Marinelli
Bartosz Zasada
Ahmed Roshdi
Curt Helmerich
Abhijeeth 
Dexter_McAaron
Joseph Hutchins
Tim Stumbaugh
Chach
Tim Sweeney
Ian Smith
Tyler Jenkins
Alex Slepak
Toshnika
Blue Cardinal
Liquid Chief
luvrhino
Matthew Ward
Nathan Ngumi
Oliver Jenner
Stefan Møller
Ned Burke
kevinh
Colm Byrne
Bernardo Cavalcanti
William Wilkerson
Romney Manassa
Hexapuma
Geoffrey Sparrow
Ryan Lowe
Andrew Niedbala
Joel Wasserman
Warren Rudkin
Random Insanity
Adam Rabung
Steven Mastronardo
Magdalena Reinberg-Leibel
Ali Sadighian
Benjamin Bowring
Robin!
Vegard Tønnessen
BattleGoat Studios
anon
Brian Giordano
Christian Vasquez Leon
Emily Glover-Wilson
Joseph Reinsch
Juan Castillo
John Orr
Clay Carroll
Sterling Archer
Ethan Harlow
Bren Ehnebuske
Thomas McGill
Ryan Haber
Alen
William Clark
James 
Rob Rollins
Yared Cristiano
Emily D
Burt Clothier
Richard Wolfe
Jonny Minogue
Gordon Wilson
Daniel D.
Melissa Prober
Dustin Koellhoffer
SirAlpaka 
Zach Weakland
nullptr 
Joker 54
Matt Busch
Donald Weaver
Yosef Waysman
Thomas Wang
Mars Project
Peter Marino
Juan Benet
Azul Bravestrong
Manny F
Hiro P
Ball State
SketerK
pdswanfleet 
Kirk Hoffman
Pat Stahl
Eric Askins
JT96
Tino
Ian M
Yuichiro Kakutani
Laurent Othacehe
Andrey Listochkin
DHILON RAY
Jeffrey Schneider
Paoli Ferlicca
Michael Dierker
I'm Not In The Description
Kevin Phoenix
hefcluba
David Spellmeyer
Tristan Kreller
Scott Oppel
Mik Scheper
0_DannyBoy
אורי פרקש
Joseph Kerckhoff
Augustus Caesar
Sean Long
Steve Bonds
Mark Ploegstra
LambOfLeg 
Allen
Mirza Ahmed
Anthony Uk
Sara Birnbaum
mohd 
James R DeVries
Sophie Winter
Dan Reiher
Jesse Plung
Austin Martin
Joshua A Bishop
Phil and Lisa Toland
Dutchball Animations
Lech Duraj
Roko Lisica
Tranier Bocaj
Alex G.
Hunter Bayliss
Michael Wagner
Now Seibert 
John Gross-Whitaker
Gregory Priebe
Wolf 
Miky Hidalgo Morriss
Doug MacLean
Mr. Awesome
Colm Boyle
Charles Doolittle
Robert Brockway
Zachary Oertel
Victor Gomez
Franklin Sousa
Danny Anstess
Seth Reeves
Rita Cragwall
Heytun 
Isabel Harrison
Chasen Le Hara
Will Sullivan
Peter Konieczny
Dr. Sarno
AltHistoryConjectures
Nathan Snyder
Igor Stavchanskiy
Riley davidson
George Caponera
Dr. Howard Dr. Fine Dr. Howard
Kinfe85
Theodosius the Elder
LAMAR DANIEL-KELLY
Andrew Sever
Lindorien 
Paul McGee
Abdallah Al-Ammari
michael.r.coates@gmail.com
João Santos
Daniel O'Reilly
Deadlock
Typhoon2401
Michael Corson
Markus Lindström
Gezza The Random Reviewer
blei95
M Scho
Robin_Col
Olaf
Kasi
Schwarzer Hai
Jan Bart Verbist
biohazardgamer
Tarsirrus
Laura Jeal
Rhys Little
James
Ben L
Jackarice26
joshua smyth
Justin McDaid
Harrison Tatem-Wyatt
Gina Service
Twinny Hill
zemnmez 
KingKyumber
Roberticus1992
Rhys Jackson
Baby Routemaster
Tom Pollard
DarkLycan 
Matthew Shelby
Phil Johnston

The island of Hispaniola, here, has had a long history

It was a series of individual states, then ruled by the Spanish, then it was split with the French, ruled entirely by the French, partially ruled by the Spanish and independent Haitians, entirely ruled by the Haitians, divided between the Haitians and the Haitians, followed by the independent Dominicans and the Spanish again.

was occupied by the Americans before again settling down into the 2 modern states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Which raises the question, why couldn't the islands stay united?

So, when Europeans first turned up to the island, it was divided into a number of chiefdoms, which the Spanish then promptly conquered.

Afterwards, the entire island remained under Spanish rule for 130 years when France won

and France's portion of the island would grow rapidly in wealth until the French Revolutionary Wars.

This was when France, having defeated most of Europe, won the rest of Hispaniola from Spain.

the Western Third, Napoleon sent troops to crush it and when that failed the island was split again, this time into the newly independent Haitian Empire with the French in the East, which lasted for a whopping 2 years before its emperor, Jacques, got himself unalived and the country fell into civil war.

The 2 stayed divided until 1820 when the Northern King died and the Southern Republic, led by Jean-Pierre Boyer, reconquered the rest.

By this time, the French had been kicked out of the eastern portion of the island with the Spanish back in power.

a long-standing period of peace and rebuilding and just kidding, the Haitians invaded and Bouyer declared himself dictator for life.

He paid an indemnity to France in return for international recognition of Haiti's independence,

of the white landowners from the east of the island.

Bouillée did very little to unify the 2 parts of the island culturally, and many in

a wholly distinct people from the Haitians who now ruled them.

And thus, it was time for a calm discussion.

Bouillée fled in 1843, and in 1844 the Dominican Republic declared its independence.

The 2 would remain separate thereafter, with Haiti briefly becoming an empire again and the Dominican Republic falling to a Spanish invasion in 1861.

This was because the United States' Monroe Doctrine, which forbid Europeans from retaking their old colonies, was somewhat harder to enforce at this time.

It didn't matter though because the Dominicans soon revolted and kicked the Spanish out, and both parts of the islands remained as independent republics thereafter.

Haiti was still paying off its debts to France from the Napoleonic era and combined with expensive wars and general mismanagement, the country had become quite poor.

Haiti's issues meant that it couldn't repay some of its debts to an American bank which meant that it was time for intervention.

The United States invaded the country in 1915 to force through debt repayment and protect American interests there.

The next year, the US-friendly Dominican government was overthrown, and since US Marines were in the area, in they went.

Both nations were thus occupied and run by the same country until the US left

the Dominican Republic in 1924 and Haiti in 1934, and thereafter both Haitian and Dominican independence was restored and Hispaniola would remain divided.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and a special thanks to my patrons...

Jordan Longley, Adam Stalter, Marcus Arsner, YN Hockey, Spencer Lightfoot, Rod D.

Martin, Words About Books Podcast, Captain Psydog, Gustav Swan, Marvin Casal, Camoon Yoon, Winston K.

Wood, Boogily Woogily, Daniel Tobian, Miss Isett, Matthew Shipley, Aaron The White, Corey Turner, the McWhopper, Alex Schwin, Anthony Beckett, Copper Tone, Maggie Patskowski, Shuenin, Spinning 3 Plates and Charles I.


Speaker 0: The island of Hispaniola, here, has had a long history

Speaker 1: of unification and division.

Speaker 0: It was a series of individual states, then ruled by the Spanish, then it was split with the French, ruled entirely by the French, partially ruled by the Spanish and independent Haitians, entirely ruled by the Haitians, divided between the Haitians and the Haitians, followed by the independent Dominicans and the Spanish again. Back to independence, and then

Speaker 1: to shake things up, it

Speaker 0: was occupied by the Americans before again settling down into the 2 modern states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Which raises the question, why couldn't the islands stay united? So, when Europeans first turned up to the island, it was divided into a number of chiefdoms, which the Spanish then promptly conquered. Afterwards, the entire island remained under Spanish rule for 130 years when France won

Speaker 1: the eastern third of it,

Speaker 0: and France's portion of the island would grow rapidly in wealth until the French Revolutionary Wars. This was when France, having defeated most of Europe, won the rest of Hispaniola from Spain.

Speaker 1: There was soon a slave revolt in

Speaker 0: the Western Third, Napoleon sent troops to crush it and when that failed the island was split again, this time into the newly independent Haitian Empire with the French in the East, which lasted for a whopping 2 years before its emperor, Jacques, got himself unalived and the country fell into civil war. The 2 stayed divided until 1820 when the Northern King died and the Southern Republic, led by Jean-Pierre Boyer, reconquered the rest. By this time, the French had been kicked out of the eastern portion of the island with the Spanish back in power. And after this, there was

Speaker 1: a long-standing period of peace and rebuilding and just kidding, the Haitians invaded and Bouyer declared himself dictator for life. Bouyer ruled over all of Hispaniola for

Speaker 0: the next 20 years. He paid an indemnity to France in return for international recognition of Haiti's independence,

Speaker 1: and he kicked out all

Speaker 0: of the white landowners from the east of the island. Except for the Polish, that is. They were cool. Bouillée did very little to unify the 2 parts of the island culturally, and many in

Speaker 1: the east saw themselves as

Speaker 0: a wholly distinct people from the Haitians who now ruled them. And thus, it was time for a calm discussion.

Speaker 1: By which, I mean armed revolution.

Speaker 0: Bouillée fled in 1843, and in 1844 the Dominican Republic declared its independence. The 2 would remain separate thereafter, with Haiti briefly becoming an empire again and the Dominican Republic falling to a Spanish invasion in 1861. This was because the United States' Monroe Doctrine, which forbid Europeans from retaking their old colonies, was somewhat harder to enforce at this time. It didn't matter though because the Dominicans soon revolted and kicked the Spanish out, and both parts of the islands remained as independent republics thereafter. That was until the early 20th century.

Haiti was still paying off its debts to France from the Napoleonic era and combined with expensive wars and general mismanagement, the country had become quite poor. Haiti's issues meant that it couldn't repay some of its debts to an American bank which meant that it was time for intervention. The United States invaded the country in 1915 to force through debt repayment and protect American interests there. The next year, the US-friendly Dominican government was overthrown, and since US Marines were in the area, in they went.

Speaker 1: Both nations were thus occupied and run by the same country until the US left

Speaker 0: the Dominican Republic in 1924 and Haiti in 1934, and thereafter both Haitian and Dominican independence was restored and Hispaniola would remain divided.

Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed this episode and a special thanks to my patrons...

Speaker 0: Jordan Longley, Adam Stalter, Marcus Arsner, YN Hockey, Spencer Lightfoot, Rod D. Martin, Words About Books Podcast, Captain Psydog, Gustav Swan, Marvin Casal, Camoon Yoon, Winston K. Wood, Boogily Woogily, Daniel Tobian, Miss Isett, Matthew Shipley, Aaron The White, Corey Turner, the McWhopper, Alex Schwin, Anthony Beckett, Copper Tone, Maggie Patskowski, Shuenin, Spinning 3 Plates and Charles I.

See all History Matters transcripts on Youtube

Why did Haiti and the Dominican Republic Break Up? (Short Animated Documentary)