answers: Haiti
context: Dominican War of Independence The Dominican Independence War gave the Dominican Republic autonomy from Haiti on February 27, 1844. Before the war, the island of Hispaniola had been united under the Haitian government for a period of 22 years when the newly independent nation, previously known as the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, was unified with Haiti in 1822. The criollo class within the country overthrew the Spanish crown in 1821 before unifying with Haiti a year later. In 1844, the members of La Trinitaria chose El Conde, the prominent “Gate of the Count” in the old city walls, as </s> Depression had dropped sugar prices to less than one dollar per pound. In February, a revolution was proclaimed in Santiago by a lawyer named Rafael Estrella Ureña. When the commander of the "Guardia Nacional Dominicana" (the new designation of the armed force created under the Occupation), Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, ordered his troops to remain in their barracks, the sick and aging Vásquez was forced into exile and Estrella proclaimed provisional president. In May, Trujillo was elected with 95% of the vote, having used the army to harass and intimidate electoral personnel and potential opponents. After his inauguration in August, </s> Spanish pushed rapidly through the north, most of which they occupied by 1794. Although the Spanish military effort went well on Hispaniola, it did not so in Europe. The Spanish colony was ceded first to France in 1795 as part of the Treaty of Basel between the defeated Spanish and the French, then it was invaded by the British in 1796. Five years later, black slaves in rebellion invaded from Saint-Domingue. The devastated Spanish-speaking colony was then occupied by the French in 1802, in spite of the dramatic defeat of Napoleon's forces at the hands of the former French slaves
question: who did the dominican republic gain independence from