Early Years
Duarte was born in Santo Domingo, Captaincy General of Santo Domingo during the period commonly called España Boba.
Duarte's father was Juan José Duarte, from Vejer de la Frontera, Cadiz, Spain, and his mother was Manuela Díez Jiménez from El Seybo. She was the daughter of a Spanish father and Dominican mother. In 1802 Duarte and Jiménez emigrated from Santo Domingo to Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. They were evading the imposition of French rule over Santo Domingo. This transformation of the island's colonial experience became apparent the previous year, when Toussaint Louverture, governor of Saint Domingue (now Haiti), a colony of France located on the western third of Hispaniola, took control of Santo Domingo, located on the island's eastern two-thirds. At the time, France and Saint Domingue were going through exhaustive social movements, namely, the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution. In occupying the Spanish side of the island the legendary Black governor was following the indications accorded by the governments of France and Spain in the Peace of Basel signed in 1795, which had given the Spanish area to France.
Upon arrival in Santo Domingo, Louverture immediately restricted slavery, although complete abolition of slavery in Santo Domingo came in 1822, and in addition began converting the old Spanish colonial institutions into French Revolutionary venues of liberal government. Puerto Rico was still a Spanish colony, and Mayagüez, being so close to Hispaniola, just across the Mona Passage, had become a refuge for the likes of the Duartes and those Spanish colonists who did not accept French rule. Most scholars assume that the Duartes' first son, Vicente Celestino, was born here at this time on the eastern side of the Mona Passage. The family returned to Santo Domingo in 1809, however, after the War of Reconquista returned Santo Domingo to Spanish control.
Read more about this topic: Juan Pablo Duarte
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