Historical Dictionary of the Dominican Republic

The colony called Santo Domingo, which became the Dominican Republic, was the violent crucible in which the ingredients of the New World, drawn from America, Europe and Africa, were fused together for the first time: humans, religions, technologies, animals, plants and learned behaviors. The history of the Dominican Republic diverged from the patterns established by the rest of Latin America, as it ultimately gained independence not from Spain, but from Haiti, and Spain later recolonized the country during a watershed period in the 1860s. In the 20th century, the United States occupied the Dominican Republic on two formative occasions, from 1916 to 1924 and again in 1965-1966, interventions detailed in this volume. At every turn, the backdrop to this pattern of shaky sovereignty has been the extreme instability of Dominican politics, which has been punctuated by incessant civil wars, coups, and periods of dictatorship, until the last few decades. The Historical Dictionary of the Dominican Republic contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Dominican Republic.

[This book] contains over 500 entries on people, events, political entities, climatological and geographical features, and other factors that have shaped the history of the Dominican Republic. In addition, the book has an extensive and illuminating chronology, ranging from 4,000 B.C.E., by which time the first people had arrived on the island, to June 2015, when issues concerning undocumented Haitian immigrants living in the republic took center stage. . . .The volume contains a map, a list of acronyms and abbreviations, and a thoughtful bibliography of English and Spanish-language works covering the republic’s history, politics, economy, culture, environment, and society. Relevant reference works and Internet sources are also listed. The book will be of use to secondary school and college students as well as the general reader with an interest in our neighbors., With both chronological and alphabetical organization of a wide range of historical information, Roorda’s work is a useful survey of Dominican history for those new to the topic as well as a handy reference to seasoned Dominicanists needing to quickly look up people, places, or events…. [C]ultural sensitivity, demonstrated throughout the work, adds an important dimension to an historical dictionary that, with names, dates, and facts alone, provides interesting and useful reading…. Roorda has done students, historians, and the reading public a real service in producing the Historical Dictionary of the Dominican Republic. It has historical breadth and thorough coverage, is clearly written, and conveys a cultural awareness that gives the book authenticity and interest. For those interested in the Dominican Republic, Roodra’s latest work is a must-read.

Eric Paul Roorda is Professor of History at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, and Co-director of the Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies at Mystic Seaport, Connecticut. He was a Fulbright Scholar in the Dominican Republic, and is a member of the Dominican Academy of History.