The Dominican diaspora consists of Dominican people and their descendants living outside of the Dominican Republic. Countries with significant numbers of Dominicans include the United States and Spain. These two nations have had historical ties to the Dominican Republic and thus it is the primary destination for many migrants. Many Dominicans migrate to the United States via Puerto Rico in rafts. There are roughly 2,500,000 million people of Dominican ancestry living outside the Dominican Republic, mainly due to economic issues, greater education, and political stability. Dominicans mostly started to migrate to the US and Spain after the assassination of

Rafael Trujillo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( , ; 24 October 189130 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (, "The Chief" or "The Boss"), was a Dominican dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from February 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He ser ...

, the authoritarian dictator who ruled from 1930 to 1961. He is notorious for his hatred of black people and

Haitians Haitians ( French: , ht, Ayisyen) are the citizens of Haiti and the descendants in the diaspora through direct parentage. An ethnonational group, Haitians generally comprise the modern descendants of self-liberated Africans in the Caribbean te ...

and for orchestrating the Parsley Massacre, the mass killing of

living in the northwestern frontier and in certain parts of the contiguous Cibao region in October 1937.

History

The Dominican Republic originates from the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, founded by Bartholomew Columbus, the brother of Christopher Columbus. The native peoples of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

, the Taino, an Arawak-speaking people, were completely wiped out due to diseases that the Spaniards brought from Europe. Nevertheless, today there are still some Dominicans with small amounts of Taino DNA, usually ranging from 5% to 10%.

Ethnic groups

Dominicans are predominantly mixed with European (specifically Spanish),

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

, and some indigenous Taino ancestry. Dominicans usually do not

classify Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes. It may also refer to: Business, organizat ...

themselves as white or black like in the United States, but rather they identify with their nation, culture, and language. Many Dominicans of predominantly European descent have ancestry from the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

and

Andalucía Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, due to the immigration of people from these areas of Spain to Latin America.

Dominican Spanish Dominican Spanish () is Spanish language, Spanish as spoken in the Dominican Republic; and also among the Dominican diaspora, most of whom live in the United States, chiefly in New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts ...

is similar to the Spanish spoken in these regions. The majority of Dominicans have at least partial African ancestry, which comes from the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

. The majority of the slaves came from West Africa and the

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

. There are also many Dominicans of Haitian descent who immigrated from Haiti or have parents or grandparents who immigrated.

References

{{reflist American people of Dominican Republic descent Demographics of the Dominican Republic