Santo Domingo Timeline
From MST
Real World Santo Domingo History
Please be careful when adding real-world information to this wiki page. The Dark Places Wiki is designed mostly as a resource for IC information. The brief history below is included primarily to give players inspiration for their characters.
Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, the Taíno Indians populated the island they called Quisqueya (mother of all lands) and Ayiti (land of high mountains) or what is known today as Hispaniola, including the part now occupied by the Republic of Haiti. At the time, the island was governed by a system of Casicazgo (chieftains).
Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, founded the settlement and named it after Saint Dominic, making it the oldest European city in the New World. The city dates back to 1496, the period when the first Europeans settled there, although it was officially founded on August 5, 1498. Governor-General Nicolás de Ovando arrived in 1502. Santo Domingo was destroyed by a hurricane shortly after his arrival and he had it rebuilt on a different site nearby.
Throughout its first century of life, Santo Domingo was the launching pad for much of the exploration and conquest of the New World. The expeditions that led to Ponce de Leon's discovery of Puerto Rico, Hernando Cortes' conquest of Mexico and Balboa's sighting of the Pacific Ocean all started from Santo Domingo.
In 1586, Francis Drake invaded and pillaged Hispaniola. This so weakened Spanish dominion over the island that for more than 50 years, all but the capital was abandoned to the mercy of pirates. In 1655, the French invaded the west end of the island, and after several treaties and forced annexations, the portion of the island controlled by Santo Domingo was reduced to less than half. Later, in 1822, the Haitians, commanded by Jean-Pierre Boyer, liberated the entire island from slavery.
The Dominicans gained their own independence from Haitian rule on February 27, 1844, led by their national hero Juan Pablo Duarte. Afterwards, various political factions struggled continuously for control of Santo Domingo. In addition to this instability, the country had to fight numerous liberation movements. In 1861, the Spanish returned to Santo Domingo and annexed the country for four years; this period is known as the 'Anexión a España'. After that, Santo Domingo went through many power changes, including the 20th century Trujillo dictatorship (established after the 1916–1924 occupation by U.S. Marines), which lasted from 1930 to 1961 and ended with the execution of the dictator (during this time Santo Domingo was known officially as Ciudad Trujillo); as well as the multiple presidencies of Joaquin Balaguer, who governed the country for 22 years. These civil wars and political struggles marked the first 70 years of the country's independence.
Santo Domingo in the World of Darkness
As a hotbed of mortal revolution, it was only a matter of time before this spread to the Kindred population as well. During the natality of the Carthian Movement, a Gangrel elder declared his intent to reshape the Kindred government into a Pure Democracy. He was inspired to do this by the writings of Carthians which had reached his ears, arguing for peaceful, prosperous and fair Kindred governments. While Carthians experimented in New York, Santo Domingo and Newcastle eventually evolved into full-scale rebellions. Small coteries around the world, inspired by these events, began to declare their allegiance to the Movement with startling rapidity (Carthians, pp 20-21)
Pre-Colombian Taíno, prehistory to 1492 c.e.
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Spanish Conquest, 1492 c.e. to 1586 c.e.
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Age of Pirates, 1586 c.e. to 1655 c.e.
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French Colonization, 1655 c.e. to 1822 c.e.
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War for Independence, 1822 c.e. to 1844 c.e.
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Interim, 1844 c.e. to 1861 c.e.
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Anexión a España, 1844 c.e. to 1848 c.e.
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Conflict, 1848 c.e. to Present
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- 1880-1890: Anastasia Anderson of Clan Gangrel founds the Carthian Movement in Santa Domingo from references to the Coffeehouse Carthians (one of which was her sire). While willing to support the Movement, Anastasia prefers the position of advisor over any court position.
- October 22, 1899: Adalberto of Gangrel delivers a defense of Charlette of the Gangrel to the assembled Kindred of Santo Domingo (Carthians, pg. 21)
Rumors
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- The success of the Movement in Santo Domingo has much do with a secret Carthian/Acolyte alliance. In exchange for protection and a blind eye turned to certain disappearances, the voudouiennes of the Circle have used the magic of the bloody loas to ensure the Carthians rose to prominence and stayed there.
- Santo Domingo is where Invictus Kindred send their misbehaving childer.
