When Dominicans Turned to Haiti: Boyer and the Unification of the Island

Historians agree that Spain, by the Treaty of Basel of July 22, 1795, ceded the eastern part of the island of Saint-Domingue to France. From then on, the entirety of the former Ayiti came under French domination. When the insurgent slaves won victory over the colonists, the independence proclaimed preliminarily in Fort-Liberté on November 19, 1803, and solemnly in Gonaïves on January 1, 1804, concerned the entire island, occupied in the west by Haitians and in the east by the former Spanish colonists, who had become Dominicans.

Official documents of the time made no distinction between the two parts of the island (French and Spanish since the Treaty of Ryswick of September 20, 1697). By January 1, 1804, the island thus appeared entirely Haitian. At the time of the surrender of Cap in 1803, Rochambeau had considered moving east to continue the fight. This project could not be realized due to the siege of Cap by indigenous troops. However, Jean-Louis Ferrand, commander of Santiago, by a stratagem, took command of Santo-Domingo from Kerverseau. Despite the colony's independence, Ferrand and his 1500 men from the Leclerc expedition adopted a policy of force towards the young State. Nevertheless, the failure of Dessalines' eastern campaign in February 1805 allowed this part to permanently escape Haitian authority.

The East in International Turmoil

Between 1807 and 1810, the eastern part participated in the vast Latin American resistance movement against the Napoleonic occupation of Spain. It placed itself for a time under British protection before falling back into political anarchy. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna officially restored this territory to Spain.

During this period, King Henri Christophe maintained an indirect influence over the east. In 1810, he supported the insurgents against Ferrand, and Serapio Reynoso occupied Santiago for a time in his name. Some Spanish patriots even requested annexation to his northern kingdom, but Christophe, preoccupied by the division of the west, limited himself to providing them with arms and support in 1811.

The Ephemeral Republic of the East

In 1821, José Núñez de Cáceres (1772-1846), a Dominican writer and statesman, proclaimed the independence of the east under the name of Spanish Haiti (the first independence of the Dominican Republic before the annexation of 1822). This initiative, declared on November 30, 1821, and supported by a minority, sparked several competing projects: attachment to Bolívar's Colombia or rapprochement with Haiti. In the border provinces, particularly La Vega and Cibao, which displayed Haiti's blue and red flag on their pediments, pro-Haitian sentiment predominated.

Meanwhile, France still harbored hopes of reconquering its former colony of Saint-Domingue, as evidenced by the mission of 1814, that of 1816, and Article 18 of the Treaty of Paris of 1815, which still considered Haiti as colonial. This threat accentuated the need for unity among Haitian leaders.