Hispaniola

Hispaniola

Hispaniola is an island in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean, between Cuba and Puerto Rico. It is the most crowded island in the West Indies and the second biggest by size, after Cuba. The island covers 76,192 square kilometers and is split into two countries: the Dominican Republic to the east and Haiti to the west.

When Christopher Columbus arrived, the island was home to several groups of Indigenous peoples, including the Ciguayos, Macorix, Ciboney, and Classic Taíno. Hispaniola is important in history as the site of the first European fort in the Americas, called La Navidad, and the first permanent settlement, Santo Domingo, which is today the capital of the Dominican Republic.

The Spanish ruled the island from 1492 until the 17th century, when French pirates began using the western part. This led to the creation of the Saint-Domingue colony under the French Empire. The island’s most common name, Española, reflects its early ties to Spain.

Etymology

Indigenous rule

When Europeans arrived in 1492, the island was home to Native people. They had different names for their land. Some called it Bohío, meaning “homeland.” Others used the name Haiti, which means “land of high mountains.” Another name, Quisqueya, means “mother of the lands.” There is some debate about whether Quisqueya was truly a Native name or was later created by writers. Yet another name, Babeque, likely referred to a different island, not this one.

Spanish rule

When Christopher Columbus landed in 1492, he named the island Española, meaning “little Spain,” because it reminded him of parts of Spain. Later, the name Hispaniola was used, which is the Latin version of “Spain.” The name Santo Domingo came from a city founded in 1498, named after a saint. Over time, this name was used for the whole island.

Spanish and French rule

In the mid-1600s, the French took over the western part of the island and called it Saint-Domingue. They built large farms and brought in many people from Africa to work there. The eastern part stayed under Spanish control and was called the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo.

Independence

After the Haitian Revolution from 1791 to 1804, the western part of the island became independent and was named Haiti. The eastern part later became independent in 1844 and was named the Dominican Republic. Because of this, the whole island is now commonly called Hispaniola.

From 1915 to 1934, the United States helped govern Haiti, and from 1916 to 1924, it helped govern the Dominican Republic. During this time, leaders suggested using the name Hispaniola for the whole island, which is why we use that name today.

History

See also: Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, Saint-Domingue, History of Haiti, and History of the Dominican Republic

Pre-Columbian

The Pomier Caves are caves north of San Cristóbal in the Dominican Republic. They have lots of rock art made by the Taíno people, and also the Carib people and the Igneri.

People known as the Archaic Age came from Central America or South America about 6,000 years ago. They mostly lived by hunting and gathering. During the first few hundred years BC, people who spoke Arawakan languages, the ancestors of the Taino, began to come to the Caribbean. They made a lot of pottery and grew crops, unlike the earlier people. The earliest signs of the Ortoiroid people are from around 600 AD. The Taino were the main group on the island when Europeans arrived. Each group was a small kingdom led by a leader called a cacique. In 1492, five kingdoms ruled the island: Xaragua, Higuey (Caizcimu), Magua (Huhabo), Ciguayos (Cayabo or Maguana), and Marien (Bainoa). Many different Taíno languages existed then. The number of Taíno people in 1492 is not known for sure, but guesses range from a few tens of thousands to 750,000.

A Taíno home was a round building with walls of woven straw and palm leaves. Most people slept in hammocks, but some used grass beds. The cacique lived in a bigger house with rectangular walls and a porch. Villages had a flat court for games and festivals. The Taíno people believed in many gods called Zemí. They worshipped these gods and danced, and priests would ask the Zemí for advice during ceremonies.

For food, the Taíno ate meat and fish. They hunted small animals, snakes, worms, and birds. They caught ducks and turtles in lakes and the sea. They also grew crops in large mounds called conuco. Common crops were cassava, maize, squash, beans, peppers, peanuts, cotton, and tobacco, used in social life and ceremonies.

The Taíno traveled often and used canoes with paddles to fish or move around. Up to 100 people could fit in one canoe. They met the Caribs, another indigenous tribe. The Taíno used bows and arrows with poisoned tips and war clubs. When Columbus arrived on Hispaniola, many Taíno leaders wanted protection from the Caribs.

Post-Columbian

See also: History of the Dominican Republic and History of Haiti

Christopher Columbus landed on Hispaniola on December 6, 1492, at a small bay he named San Nicolas, now Môle-Saint-Nicolas on the north coast of present-day Haiti. He was greeted by the Taíno. One of the first people Columbus met was a girl wearing just a gold nose plug. Trading with the Taíno gave more gold than they had found before, and Columbus thought there was more gold inland. Soon the Taínos traded pieces of gold for hawk's bells, and their cacique said the gold came from Cibao. Columbus went further east and found the Yaque del Norte River, which he named Río de Oro because it had gold dust. Before he could explore more, his ship, the Santa Maria, ran aground and sank. With only two smaller ships left, Columbus built a small fort called La Navidad and left 21 men behind.

Colonization began the next year when Columbus brought 1,300 men to Hispaniola in November 1493. They found the fort at Navidad had been destroyed, and all the men left behind had been killed. Columbus decided to look for a better place for a settlement. In January 1494 they founded La Isabela in present-day Dominican Republic. Columbus later learned that the chief Caonabo had attacked the settlement at Navidad.

Weapons and armor from the colonial era are in the Museum of the Royal Houses.

While Columbus founded La Isabela in 1494, he sent Alonso de Ojeda and 15 men to look for gold mines in Cibao. After six days, Ojeda found an area with gold, taken from streams by the Taíno. Columbus visited the mines of Cibao in March. He built Fort of Santo Tomás, now Jánico, and left Captain Pedro Margarit in charge of 56 men.^{: 119, 122–126}  In 1495, Columbus and his ally Guacanagarix fought against Caonabo, capturing him and his family and "killing many Indians and capturing others". After this, everyone over fourteen had to give a large amount of gold dust every three months, as the Spaniards believed there was more gold on the island.

After a hurricane destroyed Nueva Isabela, it was rebuilt on the other side of the Ozama River and called Santo Domingo. It is the oldest permanent European settlement in the Americas. The island was important for establishing Latin American colonies and was a headquarters for conquistadors of the Spanish Empire. It was a meeting point for explorers, soldiers, and settlers who brought culture, architecture, laws, and traditions from the Old World.

The Spaniards made the Taínos work very hard and took their food and land. This caused many Taínos to die. In 1503, Spaniards began bringing enslaved Africans after a law allowed it in 1501. They thought Africans would be better at hard labor. From 1519 to 1533, a revolt led by the Taíno cacique Enriquillo happened. During the revolt, escaped African slaves (maroons) worked with the Taíno.

16th century: gold, sugar and pirates

Gold mining began early on Hispaniola. In 1496, Miguel Díaz and Francisco de Garay found large gold nuggets on the lower Haina River. These mines were later called Minas Viejas. In 1499, gold was found in the Cordillera Central, causing a rush. By 1501, Columbus's cousin, Giovanni Colombo, found gold near Buenaventura, later called Minas Nuevas. Two main mining areas grew, one along San Cristobal-Buenaventura, and another in Cibao within the La Vega-Cotuy-Bonao area, while Santiago de los Caballeros, Concepción, and Bonao became mining towns. A gold rush followed, and Royal Governor Nicolás de Ovando took control of the mines in 1504. Pit mines became royal mines for Ferdinand II of Aragon, though placers were open to private miners. Ferdinand kept 967 natives in the San Cristóbal area, watched by paid miners.^{: 68, 71, 78, 125–127} 

Under Governor Ovando, the indigenous people were forced to work in the gold mines. By 1503, the Spanish Crown allowed private grants of indigenous labor for mining. Once forced to work far from home, they suffered from hunger and hard conditions. By 1508, the Taíno population of about 400,000 fell to 60,000, and by 1514, only 26,334 remained. About half lived in mining towns like Concepción, Santiago, Santo Domingo, and Buenaventura. The repartimiento of 1514 led to more Spanish settlers leaving, and the mines ran out.^{: 191–192}  The first known outbreak of smallpox happened in December 1518 among enslaved African miners. The Taínos had no immunity to European diseases. By May 1519, up to one-third of the remaining Taínos had died. In the century after the Spanish arrived, the Taíno population dropped by up to 95%, from tens of thousands to perhaps 8,000,000.

Sugar cane was brought by settlers from the Canary Islands, and the first sugar mill in the New World was built in 1516 on Hispaniola. The need for labor for sugar cane led to more slaves being brought in. Sugar mill owners became a new colonial elite. The first major slave revolt in the Americas happened in Santo Domingo in 1521, led by enslaved Muslims of the Wolof nation on admiral Don Diego Colon's sugar plantation. Many escaped and formed maroon communities in the south.

From the 1520s, the Caribbean Sea was raided by French pirates. In 1541, Spain built walls around Santo Domingo and in 1560 limited sea travel to big, armed groups. In 1561, Havana became the main stop for ships, which hurt Hispaniola's sugar industry. In 1564, an earthquake destroyed Santiago de los Caballeros and Concepción de la Vega. In the 1560s, English privateers also raided Spanish ships.

17th century: European skirmishes, division of the island and trade

By the early 1600s, Hispaniola and nearby islands like Tortuga were stops for Caribbean pirates. In 1606, the government of Philip III told everyone on Hispaniola to move near Santo Domingo to fight piracy. This action let French, English, and Dutch pirates set up bases on the less populated north and west coasts.

In 1625, French and English pirates arrived on Tortuga, originally settled by a few Spanish colonists. They were attacked in 1629 by Spanish forces led by Don Fadrique de Toledo, who had fortified the island, and the French and English were driven out. As Spanish troops left for Hispaniola to fight French colonists, the French returned to Tortuga in 1630 and fought for decades. In 1654, the Spanish re-captured Tortuga for the last time.

In 1655, Tortuga was reoccupied by the English and French. In 1660, the English appointed a Frenchman as governor who supported the King of France, raised the French flag, and fought off English attempts to retake the island. In 1665, French colonization was officially recognized by King Louis XIV. The French colony was named Saint-Domingue. By 1670, a Welsh privateer named Henry Morgan led pirates from Tortuga for France, helping France control the Caribbean. The pirates kept Tortuga as a neutral hideout. The capital of Saint-Domingue moved from Tortuga to Port-de-Paix on Hispaniola in 1676.

In 1680, new laws forbade sailing under foreign flags. This hurt pirates. The Treaty of Ratisbon of 1684 ended piracy. Most pirates were hired to fight their former buccaneer allies. In the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain gave the western third of the island to France. Saint-Domingue became very rich and populous, nicknamed the "Pearl of the Antilles". It was the most prosperous colony in the West Indies, using slavery to grow sugar cane when European demand for sugar was high.

18th century to 19th century: Independence

European colonists often died young from tropical fevers and slave revolts in the late 1700s. In 1791, a big slave revolt began in Saint-Domingue during the French Revolution. When the French Republic ended slavery in the colonies on February 4, 1794, it was a European first. The former slave army joined France in its wars. In the 1795 Treaty of Basel, Spain gave the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola, later the Dominican Republic.

Under Napoleon, France brought back slavery in most Caribbean islands in 1802 and sent an army to control the island. Many French troops died from yellow fever in the summer. After a brutal war, France left in late 1803, and leaders declared western Hispaniola independent Haiti in early 1804. France kept control of Spanish Santo Domingo. In 1805, Haitian troops led by General Jean Jacques Dessalines tried to take all of Hispaniola. They attacked Santiago de los Caballeros and Moca, killing many people, but left when they heard a French fleet was coming.

In 1808, a second revolution against France began. After Napoleon invaded Spain, the criollos of Santo Domingo rebelled. With help from Great Britain, they defeated the French, and Santo Domingo returned to Spanish control. France never took the island back. After 12 years of Spanish rule, leaders in Santo Domingo rebelled again and declared independence as the Republic of Spanish Haiti in 1821. Fearing Haiti's influence, the United States and Europe did not recognize Haiti. France demanded large payments from Haiti for years. The whole island was under Haitian control, but this led to the Dominican War of Independence and the Dominican Republic in 1844. Tensions between the two countries remain today. Years of war and crisis ended when the Dominican Republic rejoined Spanish rule in 1861, but support faded, and a new independence war began in 1863. The Dominican Restoration War ended with the Spanish leaving in 1865. Attempts to annex the Dominican Republic by the United States failed in 1874. Both countries have been independent since.

20th century to present: Foreign intervention, dictatorships, aftermath

In the 20th century, both countries faced similar problems. Conflicts like the Banana Wars and World War II brought political and economic troubles from power struggles and civil wars. This led to military occupations, first of Haiti and then the Dominican Republic by U.S. forces. After the U.S. left, both countries were ruled by strong leaders who rose during the occupation. Haiti's François Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude Duvalier, and the Dominican Republic's Rafael Trujillo became autocratic rulers. Trujillo was assassinated in 1961, leading to chaos and a bloody revolution and another U.S. intervention in 1965. François Duvalier died and Jean-Claude Duvalier was overthrown in 1971 and 1986. Both countries returned to democratic governments, with Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti and Joaquín Balaguer in the Dominican Republic. Since then, the countries have gone in different directions. The Dominican Republic has recovered, while Haiti continues to struggle. After Aristide was overthrown in 2004, a U.N. mass intervention began and lasted until 2017. Haiti has faced a massive catastrophic earthquake in 2010, cholera outbreaks, and ongoing gang violence.

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Americas, while the Dominican Republic has become one of the largest economies in Central America and the Caribbean.

Geography

See also: Geography of Haiti, Geography of the Dominican Republic, Islands of Haiti, Navassa Island, and Caribbean bioregion

Hispaniola is the second-largest island in the Caribbean, after Cuba. It is 76,192 square kilometers in size. The eastern part belongs to the Dominican Republic, and the western part belongs to Haiti.

The island has five big mountain ranges. The highest peak is Pico Duarte, which is 3,101 meters above sea level. The island also has many forests, lakes, and rivers, and its weather changes depending on where you are and the time of year.

Hispaniola's weather changes a lot because of its mountains. Some places get a lot of rain, while others are drier. The northern coast gets the most rain, and the southern coast is drier, especially in Haiti.

The island has four main kinds of natural areas. These are moist forests, dry forests, pine forests, and grasslands around lakes. Haiti has lost many of its forests, while the Dominican Republic is working to grow its forests back.

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of the Dominican Republic and Demographics of Haiti

Hispaniola is the most crowded island in the Caribbean, home to about 23 million people.

The Dominican Republic is a country where Spanish is the main language. Most people there follow Roman Catholicism, but there are also smaller groups that practice other religions like Evangelicalism.

Haiti is a country where most people speak Haitian Creole. Roman Catholicism is the main religion there as well, though many also practice Haitian Vodou.

Ethnic composition

See also: People of the Dominican Republic and People of Haiti

The Dominican population is made up of mixed, white, and black people. The people there are descendants of early Spanish settlers and black slaves.

In Haiti, most people are black, and some are white or mixed ethnicity.

Economics

See also: Economy of Haiti and Economy of the Dominican Republic

Hispaniola has the largest economy in the Greater Antilles, but most of its growth is in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic's economy is stronger than Haiti's.

The island has a long history of finding valuable materials. People found gold here long ago. Later, many minerals were discovered, including silver, manganese, copper, and nickel. Today, mines still operate on the island.

Human development

This section shows the areas of the Dominican Republic and Haiti ranked by how well people live, using a special measure called the Human Development Index from 2023.

• Santo Domingo in South Metro
• Santiago de los Caballeros in Cibao North
• Port-au-Prince in Ouest Metro
• Cap Haitien in Nord