To how great an extent this depression was due to trade restrictions
is evident from the circumstance that when in 1740 several ports were
opened to foreign commerce there was an immediate change for the
better. Agriculture expanded, exports and imports increased, money
circulated, the cost of the necessaries of life fell, the population
rapidly increased and many new towns sprang up. According to an
ecclesiastical census the population had in 1785 advanced to 152,640
inhabitants. Of these only 30,000 were slaves, owing to the Spanish
laws which made it easy for a slave to purchase his freedom. Many of
the freemen were negroes or mulattoes.
In 1751 the colony was visited by a severe hurricane, which caused the
Ozama to leave its banks, and by a destructive earthquake which
overthrew the cities of Azua and Seibo and did much damage to the
church buildings of Santo Domingo. Azua and Seibo were reestablished
on their present sites. Another earthquake in 1770 destroyed several
towns in the French part of the island.
From the beginning of the century the boundary between the French and
Spanish colonies of Santo Domingo had been a source of constant
friction and bickerings.
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