DUARTE, Juan Pablo (duar'te), founder of the Dominican republic, born in Santo Domingo City early in the present century; died in Venezuela, 15 July 1876. He studied law in Spain, where he was admitted to the bar. While he was studying, the eastern part of the Island of Santo Domingo, which had become independent from Spain, was conquered by the republic of Haiti, which occupied the western part, thus making the Island into a single republic. The Haitians ruled with an iron hand on the conquered part, which was inhabited largely by people of Spanish descent. Duarte, after returning to his native City, conceived the idea of freeing his country, and founded in 1838 "La Trinitaria," a secret society, which soon extended through the Spanish section of the island, and paved the way for national independence. A first attempt to obtain this, made in March 1843, was unsuccessful, and Duarte was compelled to leave the country. On 27 February 1844, another attempt was made, this time a successful one.

A commission was sent to Curacao, where Duarte resided, to bring him to Santo Domingo, to take part in the provisional government of the new republic, and on 12 June 1844, he was nominated in Cibao for president by the liberal party, in opposition to General Santana, appointed to the same office in Santo Domingo City by the reactionary party. Duarte was defeated and banished, remained in obscurity for many years, and only appeared in the Island after the return of the Dominican Republic to Spanish rule in 1861. He took part in the struggle that ended in 1865, in the reestablishment of the republic, went on a mission abroad, and died in Caracas. In 1883 the board of aldermen of Santo Domingo caused a life-size portrait of Duarte to be placed in the municipal hall, and in 1884 his remains were brought to Santo Domingo with appropriate public ceremonies.