In 1492 the territory of the Dominican Republic was where Christopher Columbus first reached the New World and called it Spanish or Hispaniola Island. On the arrival of the Spanish in 1492, was introduced with the conquest of the island, the first empire of the beginnings of the Americas. It was here founded the city of Santo Domingo as the first city in the New World, the first monastery, the first street, the first university and the first cathedral.

According to historical data is said that the Hispaniola Island was originally settled by an aboriginal group called Tainos. The Tainos were an aboriginal group which left a small but important especially archaeological heritage. Their culture was extinct, and today there are only historical traces of what they were.

The Spaniards dominated Dominican territory by the first centuries, and then was replaced by the French people to conquer the island led to the massive influx of Africans who arrived as slaves and introduced their customs to the Spanish mass-existing indigenous culture, whose final result is still current lifestyle.

The island in its history had many foreign occupations of the Spanish, French and Haitian prior to its independence. The Dominican Republic became a free and sovereign nation on February 27, 1844.

Independence was caused by the struggle of the hero Juan Pablo Duarte, who freed the Dominican Republic from Haitians who had been released from the French domain.

During the twentieth century the country experienced a difficult political instability including two U.S. interventions and traumatic governorates under dictatorial regimes leading to a high and low democracy including civil wars, coups, fraud and deceit.

From 1930 to 1961 the country was under the dictatorial rule of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina which is considered one of the most bloody, genocidal and repressive in Latin America. This period is known as the "Era of Trujillo".

After the fall of the regime, the country went through several political directions such as the Professor Juan Bosch, a civilian triumvirate, Salvador Jorge Blanco, Antonio Guzman, 12 years of Joaquín Balaguer, the armed intervention of the United States of America, among others.

In recent history it is said that the country held in 1996 one of the most clear and honest elections throughout Latin America where took the term, the President Leonel Fernandez Reyna, followed by the mandate of Hipolito Mejia aggravating the country's economy.

Today the country remains a free and sovereign nation of democratic government and is currently governed by the second term of Mr. Leonel Fernández Reyna.