D O M I N I C A N H I S T O R Y |
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| Samaná Bay* |
| Samaná
Bay, also known as Port Santa Barbara, Samaná Bay, may be more properly described as an inlet running one and a third miles east and west, and one quarter to one half mile wide. The north shore is formed of irregular hills which rise a short distance from it to a considerable elevation; the head of the bay is low and swampy, the south side being sheltered by a reef and several keys. The town of Santa Barbara is at the west end of the bay at the base, and on the side of some hills, which are hidden almost from the east by a bold headland, on the summit off which is a small Dominican fort in a rather dilapidated condition. The anchorage of the little town is so good, that it is said a vessel may run its bowspirit ashore anywhere in the harbour; but there is little diversity of opinion as regards its healthfulness. *Source:
The Hazard Book of 1873. Please click here to access |
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Jean Pierre Boyer* |
| Jean
Pierre Boyer was a dark mulatto, a native of Port-au-Prince, and, at the time of his elevation to the presidency of the republic, was about forty-eight years of age. His father was a tailor; and his mother, a Congo negress, had been a slave. He himself, after taking part in the early troubles on the side of the French, had retired with Rigaud to France, from whence he returned with Le Clerc in his expedition, but joined subsequently Petion, to whom he served as aide-de-camp, finally being appointed his successor, after serving in various grades. He was below the middle size, with a feeble constitution, and was extremely fond of display and ornament, taking great pride in showing himself on Sundays at the head of his troops in full dress. In his government of the new republic, Boyer was very far from displaying that judgment and wisdom that had marked the rule of Toussaint; and, so far from profiting by the example set by Christophe, the good results of which had been patent to the whole island, in making the culture of the land and general agriculture the basis of a solid wealth and progress for the island, he seems rather to have followed the weak example of Petion in permitting the entire population to sink to the state of idleness, ignorance and licentiousness. *Source: The Hazard Book of 1873. Please click here to access the Willmore Family/Samaná Literary resource page for more details on this book. |
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| Antique map of Samaná Bay and the Ville du Port Napoléon, proposed by Napoléon Bonaparte I, Emperor of France from 1769-1821. Napoleon Bonaparte I died just three short years before the freed North American slaves, including the Willmore family, emigrated to Samana, D.R. in 1824. |
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| Hand-engraved map of "Saint Domingue", later to be known as the Dominican Republic, produced by Jacque Bellin in 1755 for Prévost's "Histoire Générale des Voyages". Samaná is displayed in yellow, below compass rose. |
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