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Showing posts from October, 2017

La Banda Norte: Roots in the colony of Santo Domingo 1492-1606

Most of us hit brick walls before the early 1800s or late 1700s. This has a lot to do with the abandonment of the colony of Santo Domingo, and quite a few natural disasters. For example All records prior to 1805 in La Vega were swallowed by an Earthquake in 1790. The only parts of the island almost unaffected due to much stronger infrastructure and care taking of records are the East and Capital, so Higuey, Hato Mayor, and Distrito Nacional (Santo Domingo). La Banda Norte , literally meaning the North Band was a group that existed from the beginning of the colony until 1606 specializing in contraband. With how abandoned the island was and the lack of "Rule" it meant that contraband trade with the English/Dutch/French was the best way to make money. The area that it encompassed was much of the north-coast of present day Dominican Republic and Haiti. The grand majority of the inhabitants of the North Band where Blacks, Mulattoes and Mestizos, in other words free people