Dominican Republic Culture and History

Santo Domingo, capital city of the Dominican Republic, is the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in the Americas, having been founded in 1498 by Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher. The city has a long and fascinating history, having been victimized by pirates, overrun by slaves, re-named by a dictator and more.

The word ‘bachata’ has gone through many transitions, meaning different things at different periods of Dominican history. It started out as just a word designating traditional guitar music, although in the 1960s it was used to label romantic guitar music. A ‘bachata’ was also a generic label for gatherings that took place at informal Sunday afternoon parties where guitar-based groups would play for casual recreation. It was also music that played a large role in entertainment in cabarets (which were actually brothels) and it is only recently that the stigma attached to word has been lessened.

Merengue is a type of music strongly associated with Dominican national identity. The genre started gaining in popularity in the mid-19th century, displacing the current musical leader, tumba. Influenced by Spanish decema and plena, merengue is probably a close cousin of the Haitian "meringue", a musical genre sung in Creole but with a slower tempo and more sentimental melody.

A detailed history of the Dominican Republic from prehistory to the present day, edited by one of the island's foremost historians.

Film that explores the long, rich history of baseball in the Dominican Republic.