Invasion of Toussaint Louverture , General
Toussaint Louverture issued an invasion of Santo Domingo to secure French rule on the island. This would be the first Haitian invasion to Santo Domingo in the history of the island. Under the
Treaty of Basel, France returned to Spain the areas it had taken during the war in the Iberian Peninsula, and Spain in turn, ceded eastern Hispaniola to France. The information about the signing of the treaty became known in Santo Domingo on 18 October 1795, at a time when the Spanish were fighting against the French forces represented by
Toussaint Louverture, who was trying to take Spanish Santo Domingo. The agreement is known as the Treaty of Basel, because it was signed on 22 July 1795, in the Swiss city of Basel. On 27 January 1801, Toussaint Louverture, who had occupied Spanish Santo Domingo on behalf of France, issued a proclamation in which he invited the inhabitants of the city of Santo Domingo to return to their usual activities. He urged those who had left the island because of the occupation by Toussaint's troops to return to Santo Domingo. He addressed the message "to people of all colors." In this way, the military chief representing France tried to dispel the fears that worried the inhabitants of Santo Domingo. After the treaty came into force, large numbers of families, who were of Spanish origin, moved to
Cuba and
Puerto Rico. Those who went to Cuba suffered multiple difficulties because they did not receive the land and facilities that the colonial authorities promised to those who left Santo Domingo. For this reason, many requested in writing to the King of Spain that they be granted more than a year to leave Spanish Santo Domingo, but as soon as the occupation of Toussaint became a reality, they began to leave. On 25 January 1801, Toussaint Louverture's forces defeated the Spanish forces, commanded by Governor Joaquín García y Moreno, in the area of the
Nizao River. Toussaint had communicated his decision to occupy Spanish Santo Domingo to its Governor Joaquín García y Moreno, under the pretext of executing the Treaty of Basel, signed on 22 July 1795 by Spain and France, in
Basel, Switzerland, to end the war they were waging. One version says that it was easy for Toussaint to impose himself on the Spanish, because the governor had 600 poorly armed men. Dominican historians who have studied the subject agree that in the area around the Nizao River, Toussaint's troops destroyed in combat the weak resistance that tried to oppose them. After the hostilities, Toussaint negotiated capitulation with Governor Joaquín García y Monero. The following day, 26 January 1801, the victorious troops marched to the city of Santo Domingo, which they took without resistance from the locals. When the news reached Santo Domingo, the Spanish had managed to drive the French out of
Bánica and
Las Caobas, taking advantage of a British victory over Louverture's troops in Saint-Domingue. Toussaint took Spanish Santo Domingo on behalf of France in 1801, since the Treaty of Basel could not be executed earlier due to difficulties in applying it. The Treaty of Basel established that in exchange for the restitution of the territories conquered by the French in the North of the Iberian Peninsula, "the King of Spain, for himself and his successors, cedes and abandons all ownership to the French Republic of the entire Spanish part of the island of Santo Domingo in the Antilles." (sic) Under the Treaty of Basel, one month after the ratification of the agreement was announced on the island of Santo Domingo, "Spanish troops will be ready to evacuate the towns, ports and establishments they occupy here, to hand them over to French troops when they come to take possession of them." It provides that the squares, ports and establishments were to be handed over to the French with the cannons, war ammunition and necessary effects for their defence, which they had at the time when news of the negotiations became known. When Toussaint announced his decision to occupy Santo Domingo on 6 January 1801, Governor Joaquín García Moreno argued that it was not possible because decisions by Napoleon and the Spanish Government were still pending, but that argument had no effect. The Treaty established that "the inhabitants of the Spanish part of Santo Domingo, who for their interests or other reasons prefer to transfer themselves and their assets to the possessions of His Catholic Majesty, may do so within one year from the date of this Treaty.”
Deposition of Toussaint and uprising of Camba Abajo and Camba Arriba: 1802 A year later, in 1802, an invasion of the Napoleonic army led by Charles Leclerc gave way to a new French dominion of the Spanish part. Historian
José Gabriel García described a fairly complex situation in which the Dominicans, according to their interests, sometimes took sides favor of Toussaint, others of France and, from 1804, against the Haitians. An illustrative example of this situation occurred at the beginning of 1802 when residents of the city of Santo Domingo organized under the direction of Juan Baron to assault the fort of San Gil and facilitate the French landing that sought to remove Toussaint from power. Toussaint's military in the Santo Domingo tried take advantage of the support of the black people in Santo Domingo and mobilized them in his favor. Garcia noted that: "Commander Marquis, who had the Haitians as chief in the stronghold of Haina, he made efforts to agitate the slaves of Los Ingenios, in order to increase their numbers and would allow him to become strong." Perhaps as a result of these efforts, in that year of 1802, recently Once slavery was reestablished, there was an uprising of slaves in the Haciendas Camba Abajo and Camba Arriba in
San Cristóbal, area of sugar mills and haciendas, close to where the rebellion of Boca de Nigua had taken place five years earlier, once again, as a result of high concentration of slaves. The slaves of these estates took up arms and tried to join those of the Hacienda Fundacion. Some of those involved died in the persecution unleashed against them and others were eventually captured.22 This uprising closed the cycle of conspiracies and slave rebellions. Finally, the French were able to secure their dominance and the subjugation of the reinstated Dominican slaves.
Failed invasion from Haiti: 1805 lead a campaign of 20,000 soldiers in an attempt to drive the French out. In 1805, after crowning himself Emperor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines invaded, reaching Santo Domingo before retreating in the face of a French naval squadron. The Haitians fell back through the settled area of the interior, sacking the towns of Monte Plata, Cotui and La Vega, and slaughtering the citizens of Moca and Santiago. They left the fields laid waste, the cities ablaze and the churches in ashes behind them."desiring for trade to be opened between the two colonies, regarding the peace and union that reigns between the Dominicans and the Haitians." Sanchez Ramirez successfully led the Dominican troops against the French in the
Battle of Palo Hincado and finally, after an extended siege of the city of Santo Domingo and significant assistance from British forces, in 1809 the French surrendered, ushering in the era of
España Boba. The Reconquista did not reflect the unanimous feeling of the majority of Dominicans and in the first four years at least one conspiracy occurred annually and this points out the complexity of interests, influences and expectations of the moment. Santo Domingo would be de jure returned to Spain in the
Treaty of Paris (1815). Ironically, the Dominicans had gone to war against the French to restore Spanish rule to Santo Domingo just as the rest of
Hispanic America was preparing to renounce Spanish colonialism. Moreover, the so-called
War of Reconquest, following two invasions by the Haitians, had left the colony completely devastated. ==Governors (1801–1809)==