1492 Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1844 The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.
1844 The first constitution of the Dominican Republic is adopted.
1865 Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic regains its independence after 4 years of fighting against the Spanish Annexation.
1883 The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, ''Himno Nacional''.
1922 In Washington D. C., Charles Evans Hughes signs the Hughes-Peynado agreement, that ends the occupation of Dominican Republic by the United States.
1924 American occupying forces leave the Dominican Republic.
1946 An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. 100 are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.
1959 A group of Dominican exiles with leftist tendencies that departed from Cuba land in the Dominican Republic with the intent of deposing Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina. Save for four of them, all are killed and/or executed by Trujillo's army.
1960 The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated.
1961 Long time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
1963 The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo.
1965 Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
1965 United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. Army troops.
1970 A Dominican DC-9 crashes into the sea during takeoff from Santo Domingo, killing 102.
1997 The Dominican Republic becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
1999 The United Nations establishes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to commemorate the murder of three Mirabal Sisters for resistance against the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship in Dominican Republic.
2001 In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 ''en route'' to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.