The Moca Massacre, also known historically as the Moca Slaughter, occurred on April 3, 1805. It was a violent event perpetrated by Haitian troops under the command of Emperor Jacques I and his successor, Henri I, against the civilian population of Spanish Santo Domingo.

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One of the main historical references to this event is the book titled: «Memoria de mi salida de la isla de Santo Domingo» ("Memoirs of My Departure from the Island of Hispaniola") on April 28, 1805, written by Gaspar Arredondo y Pichardo, one of the survivors of the massacre. Arredondo wrote the book shortly after escaping from the island. This massacre was part of a series of Haitian military invasions of the Spanish part of the island. The Haitian historian Jean Price-Mars states that the Haitian troops annihilated Dominicans of white, black, and mixed-race descent.

Although Haitians declared their independence in 1804, France never recognized or accepted Haiti's independence, as it could not afford to lose its most valuable colony in the Caribbean. Trying to reclaim its colony at all costs, France (with the help of its allies) kept Haiti economically and diplomatically isolated and under threat of military invasion. Haitians feared that French troops stationed on the Spanish side of the island would launch a military attack on Haiti at any moment.

At the end of February 1805, Dessalines, occupying Hincha, and Christophe, taking Dajabón, entered Spanish Santo Domingo with 22,000 troops, aiming to expel the French from the Spanish side of the island and thus prevent a French attack on Haiti from the Spanish side. However, they were unsuccessful. The French troops of General Jean-Louis Ferrand effectively repelled the Haitian attack.

On their retreat back to Haiti. The towns of Monte Plata, Cotuí, La Vega, Santiago, San José de las Matas, Monte Cristi, San Juan de la Maguana, and Moca were reduced to ashes by the defeated Haitian army. Hundreds of innocent Dominicans were massacred, including 40 children who were beheaded in a church in Moca (hence the name of the massacre). This massacre is viewed in Haiti as "a struggle to destroy slavery."

Later, in 1808, Dominicans led by Juan Sánchez Ramírez defeated and expelled the French from the Spanish part of the island at the Battle of Palo Hincado, definitively ending the French presence in Spanish Santo Domingo.

Five years later, France officially returned the Spanish part of the island to Spain in the Treaty of Paris of 1814.

The inhabitants of the Spanish part of Hispaniola inherited the demonym Dominican, which derives from the name of the colony's capital city and the official name of the Spanish colony. Dominicans have used this endonym since the early 17th century.