Sheltering Freedom: Samaná in Dominican History
The Samaná peninsula for its inhabitants has symbolized many things throughout history. One of them has been its function as a crossroads of cultures for the African diaspora, given the role it played as a refuge from slavery for black migrants in the 19th century. The African American immigrant community of Samaná is a native community, in the sense of having existed decades before the birth of the Dominican Republic as a nation-state. Before the founding of the first Republic in 1844, the Samanese peninsula was a destination for many Afro-American immigrants. As the illustrative works of anthropologists and historians in both the Dominican Republic and the United States (among them Soraya Aracena, Ryan-Mann Hamilton, Dennis Hidalgo,
Hispaniola after the Haitian revolution was an exception, an island of freedom surrounded by a sea of slave societies. In the United States, slavery existed until the end of the civil war in 1865. Meanwhile, slavery was abolished in 1804 in the French part of the island, later in the Spanish part when it was unified under Haitian rule in 1822. In 1844 when the Dominican Republic became an independent country, slavery remained prohibited. Many African Americans freed in the US did not accept the limited options for people of color in that country and fled on boats bound for the Caribbean, envisioning in Samaná a future of freedom and prosperity for their descendants.
While these migratory processes were taking place, the Samaná Bay was imagined by the empires of the Atlantic world as a space of commercial interest for the exploitation of its resources and also as a strategic naval port. Due to the excellent conditions of its port, it was coveted by the European powers of Spain, France, and England and also by the United States.
When France tried to retake Saint-Domingue, General Leclerc used Samaná as a base to start the military campaign against the insurgent forces. Imperial maps are instruments for projecting a vision of power into the future, representing the vision that the cartographers hope to bring to life. Likewise, the preserved French cartography offers a window of the international imaginary of Samaná from that time where the town of Santa Bárbara would receive the name of “Port Napoleón” as a symbol of French power in the Caribbean.
Today, above all, Samaná is usually associated with tourism and the beauty of its nature, however, in the 19th century, the beaches of Samaná were associated with naval power and the international struggle for maritime control. The presence of military infrastructures on the French map shows that the bay was a strategic site in the political history of this Caribbean region.
Later, after the fifteen years of independence that followed Haitian rule, the Spanish annexed the Dominican Republic again. They made a military effort with the construction of fortresses to consolidate their dominance over the bay. In a Caribbean context with constant rivalries for control of ports, Spain sent military engineers, who tried to protect this valuable enclave by ensuring control over Samaná.
After restoring their sovereignty and gaining their independence, the Dominican people had to face a new power: the United States. In 1871, a North American scientific commission arrived to study the possibility of annexation by visiting the country. While passing through Samaná, they interviewed their neighbors to find out their opinion about being part of the United States. In his lengthy report, there are many pages devoted to the Bay of Samaná and its importance for annexation. The botanists of the commission studied the plants of the region, with the intention of considering their commercial value. We cannot separate the annexationist issue from the strategic value of the Samanese peninsula. The annexation did not happen, on the one hand due to the lack of support in the North American Congress and on the other, because of the Dominican resistance to accepting it.
Despite the strategic value of Samaná on the world stage during the 19th century, we cannot forget its local history and how its inhabitants carved their own history contradicting imperial narratives. The people of Samaná made this piece of land their home despite all the political intrigues that affected them. There are always two sides to the story of each place and here it was no different. Other communities in the eastern part of the island, such as Puerto Plata, also received Afro-American immigrants, but only in Samaná do we find the tendency to stay and not return to the United States.
Probably because of its inaccessible and isolated geography, African Americans and their descendants felt safe and allowed them to flourish in cultural independence. Although they integrated into Dominican society and learned Spanish, they maintained their autonomy and a strong sense of community thanks to strong religious networks associated with congregations of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. Today, nearly two centuries after the first arrival of African Americans in 1824, descendants of African Americans have maintained their roots through food, music, and spirituality. There are still older people who speak English inherited from their 19th century ancestors, and the Protestant churches founded during the first migration remain to this day.
After the US acquired Guantánamo Bay and made Puerto Rico a colony after its war with Spain in 1898, US interest in negotiating with the Dominican government for Samaná as a naval base waned. The 20th century entered the Dominican Republic and this blurred the memory of the importance of Samaná in Dominican history. In the 21st century, with Santo Domingo as the political capital and economic center of the country, the importance of other places in the political trajectory of the nation is forgotten. However, today more historians recognize the importance and the need to recover regional memories. We only have to dive beyond the surface of the waters of Samaná to find the hidden stories that will help us better appreciate Dominican history.