People of the Dominican Republic capital and its patron saint, Saint Dominic. Hence the residents were called "Dominicanos" (Dominicans), which is the adjective form of "Domingo", and the revolutionaries named their newly independent country "La República Dominicana". It was often referred to as the "Republic of San Domingo" in English language 19th Century publications. The first recorded use of the word "Dominican" is found in a letter written by King Phillip IV of Spain in 1625 to the inhabitants of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo. In this letter, which was written before the arrival of French settlers on the Western side of the island,
Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic killed or wounded in action. The 12,000 pro-Spanish southern forces recruited by Santana had also suffered about 10,000 casualties. The fatal losses among the Cibao-based nationalist armies were estimated at 4,000. Spanish occupation of the Dominican Republic In 1861, Dominican general Pedro Santana suggested retaking control of the Dominican Republic to queen Isabella II of Spain, after a period of 17 years of Dominican sovereignty. Newly independent Dominican Republic was economically recovering from the recently ended Dominican War of Independence (1844–1856), when the Republic won its independence against Haiti. Spanish crown and authorities, which scorned and rejected the peace treaties