Territorial evolution of the Caribbean the Viceroyalty of New Granada and the Captaincy General of Venezuela became the Republic of Gran Colombia organized as a federation of Ecuador, today's Colombia and Venezuela (Panama was part of Colombia). The official name of the country at the time was the Republic of Colombia. Historians adopted the term "Gran Colombia" to distinguish this republic from the present-day Republic of Colombia, which began using the same name in 1863. Spanish Haiti's independence was short-lived, as Haitian forces, led by Jean Pierre Boyer, invaded and took control of the country just nine weeks later in February 1822. After a brief
History of the Jews in the Democratic Republic of the Congo History of the Jews in the Democratic Republic of the Congo The history of the Jews in the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be traced back to 1907, when the first Jewish immigrants began to arrive in the country. Current Jewish Congolese population is mostly of Sephardi background. The territory which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo was first annexed and colonised by Europeans after 1885 within what was then the Congo Free State. By 1908, the Free State had itself been annexed by Belgium, becoming the Belgian Congo. The first Jews in the Congo were Eastern