Christopher Columbus arrived at the island of Hispaniola in 1492, and beginning in 1503 the Spanish brought African slaves to the island working on the plantations. In 1697, Spain recognized French dominion over the western third of the island, which in 1804 became Haiti. The Haitians conquered the whole island in 1822 until an 1844 revolution drove the Haitians out and established the Dominican Republic as an independent state. In 1861, with the country plagued by political chaos and an extremely poor economy, the Dominicans voluntarily returned to the Spanish Empire, but independence was restored in 1865. Following independence, the country experienced periods of instability, with tight political control, military coups, and U.S. military intervention. Since 1996, the Dominican electoral process has been seen as generally free and fair. Former President (1996-2000) Leonel Fernández Reyna was elected to a second term in 2004 following a constitutional amendment allowing presidents to serve more than one term, and he won his third term in May 2008. The Dominican Republic is one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean, and there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. The global recession starting in 2008 had a significant impact on the country’s economy, particularly on tourism and remittances, two of its most important economic contributors.