Dominican Republic

Courtesy of Google: The sections of the D.R. and Haiti is on the left.

The book In The Time Of The Butterflies is placed in the Dominican Republic so here is a little background information on it: The Dominican Republic, located near the West Indies, occupies the Eastern two-thirds of the island Hispaniola (that it shares with its good friend Haiti) inside of the Greater Antilles. The Dominican Republic was first explored by Cristopher Columbus during his first voyage in December of 1492. When he got there he name it La Espanola (roughly translates to...The Espanola) and Diego, Cristopher's son, was its first governer (I know, shocking). From the 16th and 17th century many things happened such as: the first black slaves arrived on the island, all Spaniards were forcibly moved south-east of what is now San Juan De La Maguana , and the D.R. was ceded to France during the French Revolution in 1795. France soon lost this and in 1804 the Blacks beat out the French for their independence and on January 1, the Republic of Haiti was established on the Western third of Hispaniola. After this,the Dominicans fought Haiti for their own independence and on February 27, 1844, the Dominican Republic came to be. The book is takes place in the 1940's during the oppresive rule of the dictator Rafael Trujillo. It is about the Mirabal Sisters who were strongly opposed to Trujillo's rule. Next Stop: The Mirabal Sisters!
Here are a few pictures:


Three of four of the Mirabal Sisters or the Butterflies



The Flag of the Dominican Republic est.February 27,1844

My souces: Google.com (who doesnt use it?), Wikipedia.org (should I say more?), infoplease.com (I said please), and Hispaniola.com (self-explanatory much?).