Hispaniola

{{Short description|Caribbean island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti}} {{Redirect-multi|2|Isla Española|San Domingo|the Galápagos island|Española Island|other uses|Santo Domingo (disambiguation)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2014}} {{Infobox islands | name = Hispaniola | image_name = ISS027-E-17333 - View of Dominican Republic.jpg | image_caption = View from the ISS, 2011 | map_image = Hispaniola.png | map_caption = Map of Hispaniola | pushpin_map = Greater Antilles#Caribbean# North America#World |pushpin_relief=y | nickname = | local_name = {{Plain list| * {{Native name|es|La Española}} * {{Native name|fr|Hispaniola}} * {{Native name|ht|Ispayola}} * {{Native name|tnq| Babeque, Bohío, and Haití<ref name="haitiquisqueya"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Casas |first=Bartolomé de las |url=http://archive.org/details/historiadelasind15casa_0 |title=Historia de las Indias |publisher= |year=1875 |editor-last=Sancho Rayón |editor-first=José |volume=II |location=Madrid |pages=7 |language=Spanish |chapter=Capitulo LXXXIV |orig-year=1527 |editor-last2=Ramírez de Arellano |editor-first2=Feliciano}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Colón |first=Fernando |url=http://archive.org/details/historiadelalmir01col |title=Historia del almirante don Cristóbal Colón en la cual se da particular y verdadera relación de su vida y de sus hechos, y del descubrimiento de las Indias occidentales, Ilamadas nuevomundo; escrita por don Fernando Colón, su hijo .. |date=1892 |publisher= |location=Madrid |pages=124–127; 285–287 |language=Spanish |orig-year=1537}}</ref>}} * ''Quisqueya''<ref name="haitiquisqueya">{{Cite web |title=¿Cuál es el nombre de nuestra isla? |url=https://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/lecturas/cul-es-el-nombre-de-nuestra-islaa-CODL353742 |access-date=2025-06-04 |website=www.diariolibre.com|date=September 29, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Anghiera |first=Pietro Martire d' |url=http://archive.org/details/petrimartyrisaba00angh |title=P. De orbe nouo Petri Martyris ab Angleria Mediolanensis Protonotarij Cesaris senatoris decades |date=1533 |publisher= |pages=25; 58}}</ref> (Ciguayo) }} | location = The Caribbean Sea | coordinates = {{Coord|19|N|71|W|type:isle_region:DO |display=inline,title}} | archipelago = Greater Antilles | major_islands = {{Plain list| * Gonâve * Saona * Navassa * Beata * Île-à-Vache * Catalina * Tortuga * Alto Velo }} | area_km2 = 76192 | rank = 22nd | coastline_km = 3059 | highest_mount = Pico Duarte | elevation_m = 3175 | elevation_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2020.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613003330/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2020.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 13, 2007|title=Field Listing—Elevation extremes |work=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref> | country = Dominican Republic<br />11,510,730<ref>{{Cite World Factbook|country=Dominican Republic|access-date=5 December 2024|year=2024}}</ref> | country_area_km2 = 48,445 | country_capital_and_largest_city = Santo Domingo | country_largest_city_population = 1,029,117<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.one.gob.do/media/vrxlx3jv/infografia-xcnpv.pdf |title=Provincias Dominicanas |access-date=5 December 2024}}</ref> | country1 = <div style="margin-top:0.20em">Haiti</div>11,906,095<ref>{{Cite World Factbook|country=Haiti|access-date=5 December 2024|year=2024}}</ref> | country1_area_km2 = 27,747 | country1_capital_and_largest_city = Port-au-Prince | country1_largest_city_population = 1,234,742 | population = 22,569,800 | population_as_of = 2024;<br />both countries' estimates combined | density_km2 = 280.8 | additional_info = |languages = {{hlist|Haitian Creole|Haitian French|Dominican Spanish|English}} | ethnic_groups = {{hlist|Dominicans (Afro-Dominicans, Mestizo, White)|Haitians (Mulattos, Afro-Haitians, Indo-Haitians, Arab Haitians)}} |population_rank = 11th |timezone1 = Eastern Time Zone (Haiti) |utc_offset1 = –5 |timezone1_DST=Eastern Daylight Time (Haiti) |utc_offset1_DST=–4 |timezone2 = Atlantic Time Zone (Dominican Republic) |utc_offset2 = –4

}}

'''Hispaniola'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|ɪ|s|p|ə|n|ˈ|j|oʊ|l|ə}},<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Hispaniola|access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Hispaniola|access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref><small> also</small> {{IPAc-en|UK|-|p|æ|n|ˈ|-}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/hispaniola |title=Hispaniola |work=Collins English Dictionary |publisher=HarperCollins |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Hispaniola |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202094002/https://www.lexico.com/definition/hispaniola |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-12-02 |title=Hispaniola |dictionary=Lexico UK English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref><br />{{langx|es|La Española}}}} is an island in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean, located between Cuba and Puerto Rico. It is the most populous island in the West Indies and the second-largest by land area, after Cuba. Covering an area of {{convert|76192|km2|adj=on}}, it is divided into two separate sovereign countries: the Spanish–speaking Dominican Republic ({{convert|48,445|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}) to the east and the French and Haitian Creole–speaking Haiti ({{convert|27,750|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}) to the west. The only other divided island in the Caribbean is Saint Martin, which is shared between France ({{lang|fr|Saint Martin}}) and the Netherlands ({{lang|nl|Sint Maarten|italic=no}}). At the time of the European arrival of Christopher Columbus, Hispaniola was home to the Ciguayos, Macorix, Ciboney and Classic Taíno Indigenous peoples.

Hispaniola is the site of the first European fort in the Americas, La Navidad (1492–1493), the first settlement, La Isabela (1493–1500), and the first permanent settlement, the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo (1498–present). These settlements were founded successively during each of Columbus's first three voyages under the patronage of the Spanish Empire.<ref name=embassy>{{cite web |url=http://www.domrep.org/gen_info.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524150608/http://www.domrep.org/gen_info.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 24, 2007 |title=Embassy of the Dominican Republic, in the United States |access-date=February 27, 2009}}</ref><ref name="cia.gov">{{Cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/haiti/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109155536/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/haiti |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 9, 2021 |title=Haiti |date=October 6, 2021 |work=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref><ref name="Davies1953">{{cite journal |last=Davies |first=Arthur |title=The Loss of the ''Santa Maria'' Christmas Day, 1492 |journal=The American Historical Review |year=1953 |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=854–865 |doi=10.1086/ahr/58.4.854}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Maclean, Frances |date=January 2008 |title=The Lost Fort of Columbus |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/fort-of-columbus-200801.html |work=Smithsonian |access-date=24 January 2008}}</ref>

The Spanish controlled the island from 1492 until the 17th century, when French pirates began establishing bases on the western side of the island, which resulted in the creation of the Saint-Domingue colony under the French Empire by 1659. The most commonly used name for the island is {{lang|es|Española}} ("diminutive for Spain, according to Pedro Mártir de Anglería"), whose Latinized form is ''Hispaniola''. The name of ''Santo Domingo'', after Saint Dominic de Guzmán, the Castilian Catholic priest founder of the Dominican Order, is also widely used.

==Etymology==

=== Indigenous rule === At the time of its European discovery during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, the island was called various names by its Native peoples: the Ciguayo, the Macorix, and the Taíno. Early chroniclers identified the Indigenous names (appearing with various spellings) of the island as ''Bohío'' ("homeland"), ''Haiti'' ("land of high mountains"), and ''Quisqueya'' ("mother of the lands"), which were used by Natives from different parts of the island, although doubts have been raised about the authenticity of ''Quisqueya''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Balcácer |first=Juan Daniel |date=2012-09-29 |title=¿Cuál es el nombre de nuestra isla? |url=https://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/lecturas/cul-es-el-nombre-de-nuestra-islaa-CODL353742 |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Diario Libre |language=es}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2024-12-11 |title=Colón y el nombre de Haití |url=https://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/columnistas/2024/12/10/cristobal-colon-y-el-nombre-de-haiti/2937519 |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Diario Libre |language=es}}</ref> Another name that has been mentioned is ''Babeque'' ("land of gold"), but it likely corresponded to another island, as Columbus only identified in his journal the island as ''Bohío'', and used ''Babeque'' to refer to an island located east of Hispaniola, which was likely ''Boriquén'', today Puerto Rico.<ref>{{cite web | title=Justificación para una historia militar de Puerto Rico| website= LA ODISEA DE MARTIN ALONSO PINZON| date=April 4, 2023 | url=https://academiaprhistoria.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/1990-07-01-02.pdf | language=Spanish | pages=62–63| access-date=January 19, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Martín Alonso Pinzón y Puerto Rico| website=Academia Puertorriqueña de la Historia| date=April 4, 2023 | url=https://academiaprhistoria.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/1990-07-01-02.pdf | language=Spanish | pages=174–179; 285–300| access-date=January 19, 2024}}</ref>

While navigating east-west along the northern coastline during Columbus's second voyage in 1493, physician Diego Álvarez Chanca recorded that ''Haiti'' was the name of the easternmost part of the island, which he described as low-lying and flat. This region was followed by two others called ''Samaná'' and ''Bohío''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Navarrete |first=Martín Fernández de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jui6IGo47eQC&q=Burenquen&pg=PA167 |title=Colección de los viages y descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los españoles desde fines del siglo XV: con varios documentos inéditos concernientes á la historia de la marina castellana y de los establecimientos españoles en Indias |date=1825 |publisher=Imprenta Nacional |pages=209 |language=es}}</ref> Spanish clergyman and historian Bartolomé de las Casas, who settled in the Cibao valley in 1502, documented that the island was called ''Bohío'' and ''Haiti'' by the Indigenous people,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Casas |first=Bartolomé de las |url=http://archive.org/details/historiadelasind15casa |title=Historia de las Indias |date=1875 |publisher=Madrid, Impr. de M. Ginesta |others=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library}}</ref> while administrator and historian Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, who was supervisor of gold smelting in Santo Domingo in 1514, reported ''Haiti''.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés |first1=Gonzalo |url=http://archive.org/details/generalynatural01fernrich |title=Historia general y natural de las Indias |last2=R. Academia de la historia |first2=Madrid |last3=Amador de los Rios |first3=José |date=1851–55 |publisher=Madrid, Impr. de la Real academia de la historia |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref> In addition to ''Haiti'', which he defined as "altitude" synonymous with "mountains", Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, author of ''Decades of the New World'' in 1511 and ''c''hronicler of the Council of the Indies in 1520, recorded another name, ''Quisqueya'', which he defined as "something large" or "larger than anything" synonymous with "universality".<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=Anghiera |first1=Pietro Martire d' |url=http://archive.org/details/deorbenovoeightd01angh |title=De orbe novo, the eight Decades of Peter Martyr d'Anghera; |last2=MacNutt |first2=Francis Augustus |date=1912 |publisher=New York, London, G.P. Putnam's Sons |others=Wellesley College Library}}</ref>

Like de las Casas, Ferdinand Columbus, son of Columbus who visited the island during the fourth voyage of his father (1502-1504) and during the governorship of his brother Diego Columbus in 1509, identified the Native names of the island as ''Bohío'' and ''Haiti''.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Colón |first1=Fernando |url=https://archive.org/details/historiadelalmir01col/page/284/mode/1up?q=Bouhi |title=Historia del almirante don Cristóbal Colón en la cual se da particular y verdadera relación de su vida y de sus hechos, y del descubrimiento de las Indias occidentales, Ilamadas nuevomundo; escrita por don Fernando Colón, su hijo .. |last2=Roman |first2=fray |date=1892 |publisher=Madrid [Impr. de T. Minuesa] |others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}</ref> Like d'Anghiera, prominent Spanish historians Alonzo de Santa Cruz and Francisco López de Gómara identified ''Haiti'' and ''Quisqueya'' as the Native names of the island. In 1540, de Santa Cruz defined the former as ''"montes"'' (mountains) and ''"aperezas"'' (rugged terrain) and the latter as ''"grandeza excedía a todas"'' (greatness exceeding all), indicating that ''Haiti'' was how the Natives called the island because it was how they universally named the many mountains in the island, while ''Quisqueya'' was used because they thought the large size of island meant that it and its neighboring islands were the full extent of the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Santa Cruz |first=Alonso de |url=http://archive.org/details/islariogeneralde00sant |title=Islario general de todos las islas del mundo. Con un prólogo de D. Antonio Blázquez |date=1918 |publisher=Madrid Patronato de Huérfanos de Intendencia é Intervención Militares |others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=BMK BRZ |url=http://archive.org/details/islario-general-de-todas-las-islas-del-mundo |title=Islario General De Todas Las Islas Del Mundo . |date=1539}}</ref> In 1553, López de Gómara defined ''Haiti'' as ''"aspereza"'' (rugged terrain) and ''Quisqueya'' as ''"tierra grande"'' (large land).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Image 39 of Primera y segunda parte dela historia general de las Indias con todo el descubrimiento y cosas notables que han acaecido dende que se ganaron ata [sic] el año de 1551. Con la cõquista de Mexico y de la Nueua España. {{!}} Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2021rosen1291/?sp=39&st=image&r=0.509,0.175,0.54,0.688,0 |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=www.loc.gov}}</ref>

However, historians disagree on the authenticity of the Indigenous origins of ''Quisqueya'', as research has shown that the name does not appear to derive from the Taíno language. While some dismiss it as an invention of d'Anghiera, which was subsequently spread by later historians, others contend that it was one of the names used by the Natives, possibly the Ciguayo. Despite the debate, Dominicans have adopted ''Quisqueya'' as the popular and poetic name of the Dominican Republic in eastern Hispaniola.<ref name=":0" />

=== Spanish rule === Upon landing at the Nord-Ouest department of northwestern Haiti on December 5, 1492, Columbus called the island ''Española'' ("little Spain"), as it resembled geographical parts of Spain in his opinion. Historians de las Casas and d'Anghiera popularized the name in its Latin form ''Hispaniola'', meaning Spain in diminutive, according to Mártir. While the name in Spanish today is ''La Española'', Columbus did not use the article ''La'' ("the").<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cristobal Colón - Consuelo Varela - Juan Gil - Textos y Documentos Completos, Relaciones de Viajes, Cartas y Memoriales.-Alianza Universidad (1982) {{!}} PDF |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/524481280/Cristobal-Colon-Consuelo-Varela-Juan-Gil-Textos-y-Documentos-Completos-Relaciones-de-Viajes-Cartas-y-Memoriales-alianza-Universidad-1982 |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Scribd |page=157 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref name="McIntosh">{{cite book |last=McIntosh |first=Gregory C |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgRXuOWah7MC&q=Hispaniola+Espa%C3%B1ola&pg=PA88 |title=The Piri Reis Map of 1513 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8203-2157-8 |page=88}}</ref><ref>"Quam protinus Hispanam dixi": [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/columbus.html Epistola De Insulis Nuper Repertis] (Letter to Lord Raphael Sanchez, March 14, 1493).</ref>

The island continued to be called ''Española'' until shortly after the mid-17th century, when the territory began to be known interchangeably as ''Isla Española de Santo Domingo''. The following two centuries, ''Santo Domingo'' prevailed as the name until the 18th century. This name dates back to 1498, when Bartholomew Columbus founded a city on the bank of the Ozama River, which he named ''Santo Domingo'' after Saint Dominic. Antonio del Monte y Tejada and José Gabriel García, in their respective works, recorded that on December 6, 1508, by royal decree, the King of Spain extended the name ''Santo Domingo'' to the entire island. However, this royal decree is unknown, and it is believed that the name ''Santo Domingo'' was applied to the island out of general usage, as it was the name of Santo Domingo, the principal political and commercial center in the island, which is today the capital of the Dominican Republic.<ref name=":0" />

=== Spanish and French rule === When the French occupied the western part of the island in the mid-17th century, which had been abandoned by Spain following the Devastations of Osorio in 1605, they established a colonial plantation system based on the enslavement of Sub-Saharan Africans. This colony, which became the most prosperous of the French empire in the Americas, was known as ''Saint-Domingue''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Albert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hL2JlqVLuP4C&q=names+of+hispaniola&pg=PA10 |title=The Butterflies of Hispaniola |publisher=University of Florida Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-8130-0902-5 |page=10 |access-date=12 April 2015}}</ref>

The island remained a Spanish possession under the official name of ''Capitanía General de Santo Domingo'' (Captaincy General of Santo Domingo) before the occupation of the French. After the establishment of ''Saint-Domingue'', the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo became official name of the Spanish-controlled territory in eastern Hispaniola. In 1795, Spain ceded the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo to France by way of the Treaty of Basel during the French Revolutionary Wars. France annexed Spanish Santo Domingo into the French Saint-Domingue, uniting the island from 1795 to 1809 under the official name of ''Capitainerie générale de Santo Domingo'' or ''French Santo Domingo''.

=== Independence === Following the period of the successful Haitian Revolution from 1791 to 1804, revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines adopted the name of ''Haiti'' as the official name of the island, stating the Haitian Constitution of 1805 that "The people inhabiting the island formerly called St. Domingo, hereby agree to form themselves into a free state sovereign and independent of any other power in the universe, under the name of empire of Hayti."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Preliminary Declaration from the Constitution of Haiti (1805) {{!}} Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2/resistance-revolt/preliminary-declaration-constitution-haiti-1805 |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=www.gilderlehrman.org}}</ref> From 1804 to 1806, the independent western side of Hispaniola was officially known as the ''Empire of Haiti''. Following the overthrow of the Empire of Haiti from 1806 to 1808, the northern part of the island became officially known as the ''State of Haiti'', while the south was called the ''Republic of Haiti''. During this time the eastern side remained under de jure French control as ''French Santo Domingo''. After the Spanish reconquest of the eastern side of the island in 1809, this territory regained its official name of ''Capitanía General de Santo Domingo''.

With the independence of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo in 1821, the territory officially became the ''Estado Independiente de Haití Español'' (Republic of Spanish Haiti). However, after the Haitian occupation of the territory from 1822 to 1844, the island became a unified country under the official name of ''Republic of Haiti''. As the Dominicans rebelled against Haitian rule during the Dominican War of Independence from 1844 to 1856, an independent country with the name of ''República Dominicana'' (Dominican Republic) was established in eastern Hispaniola. In 1844, the first Substantive Charter of the new country stated: "The Spanish part of the island of Santo Domingo and its adjacent islands form the territory of the Dominican Republic."<ref name=":3" /> Western Hispaniola remained as the country of Haiti with the official name of ''Empire of Haiti'' or ''Republic of Haiti''. With the official introduction of the name ''Haiti'' in the 19th century, Hispaniola, which until then was most commonly called ''Santo Domingo'', began to be widely identified as ''Haiti'', particularly outside the Spanish-speaking world.<ref name=":4" />

=== United States occupation === Hispaniola was under the control of the United States from 1915 to 1934 in Haiti and from 1916 to 1924 in the Dominican Republic. In 1918, American leaders in Hispaniola recommended to the National Geographic Society to apply the name of ''Hispaniola'' to the island.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Castillo Pantaleón |first1=Juan Miguel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcJBAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA328 |title=La Nacionalidad Dominicana |date=2012 |publisher=Editora Nacional, Ministerio de Cultura |isbn=978-9945-469-97-4 |location=Santo Domingo |page=329 |language=es |access-date=15 June 2015}}</ref> As a result, the island, which contains the country of Haiti in the west and the country of the Dominican Republic in the east, is most widely known today as ''Hispaniola.''

== History == {{See also|Captaincy General of Santo Domingo|Saint-Domingue|History of Haiti|History of the Dominican Republic}}

===Pre-Columbian=== {{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=240 |image1=Pictografia igneri.jpg |image2=Cueva El Pomier.jpg |image3=Fosil perezoso.png |footer=The Pomier Caves are a series of 55 caves located north of San Cristóbal in the Dominican Republic. They contain the largest collection of 2,000-year-old rock art in the Caribbean, primarily made by the Taíno people, but also the Carib people and the Igneri.}}

The Archaic Age people arrived from mainland Central America or northern South America about 6,000 years ago and are thought to have practiced a largely hunter-gatherer lifestyle. During the 1st millennium BC, the Arawakan-speaking ancestors of the Taino people began to migrate into the Caribbean. Unlike the Archaic peoples, they practiced the intensive production of pottery and agriculture. The earliest evidence the Ortoiroid people, which dates to around 600 AD.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last1=Fernandes |first1=Daniel M. |last2=Sirak |first2=Kendra A. |last3=Ringbauer |first3=Harald |last4=Sedig |first4=Jakob |last5=Rohland |first5=Nadin |last6=Cheronet |first6=Olivia |last7=Mah |first7=Matthew |last8=Mallick |first8=Swapan |last9=Olalde |first9=Iñigo |last10=Culleton |first10=Brendan J. |last11=Adamski |first11=Nicole |last12=Bernardos |first12=Rebecca |last13=Bravo |first13=Guillermo |last14=Broomandkhoshbacht |first14=Nasreen |last15=Callan |first15=Kimberly |date=2021-02-04 |title=A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean |journal=Nature |volume=590 |issue=7844 |pages=103–110 |bibcode=2021Natur.590..103F |doi=10.1038/s41586-020-03053-2 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=7864882 |pmid=33361817}}</ref> The Taino represented the dominant group on the island during the period of European contact.<ref name="Poole">{{Cite journal|last=Poole|first=Robert|date=2011|title=What Became of the Taíno?|journal=Smithsonian|volume=70|id={{ProQuest|897718111}}}}</ref> Each society was a small independent kingdom with a leader known as a cacique.<ref name="Corbett">{{Cite web|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/100.html|title=The History of Haiti|last=Corbett|first=Bob|date=1995|access-date=November 20, 2018}}</ref> In 1492, which is considered the peak of the Taíno, five different kingdoms ruled over the island,<ref name="Poole" /> the Xaragua, Higuey (Caizcimu), Magua (Huhabo), Ciguayos (Cayabo or Maguana), and Marien (Bainoa).<ref name="Corbett" /> Many distinct Taíno languages also existed in this time period.<ref>{{cite book|last=Berman|first=Mary|date=2008|chapter=The Greater Antilles and Bahamas|url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/estarch/the_greater_antilles_and_bahamas/0|title=Encyclopedia of Archaeology|doi=10.1016/B978-012373962-9.00391-5|via=Credo|url-access=subscription}}</ref> There is still heated debate over the population of Taíno in 1492, but estimates range from no more than a few tens of thousands, according to a 2020 genetic analysis,<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Reich|first1=David|last2=Patterson|first2=Orlando|date=2020-12-23|title=Opinion {{!}} Ancient DNA Is Changing How We Think About the Caribbean |work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/23/opinion/dna-caribbean-genocide.html|access-date=2020-12-24|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="2020 genetic" >{{Cite journal|last1=Fernandes|first1=Daniel M.|last2=Sirak|first2=Kendra A.|last3=Ringbauer|first3=Harald|last4=Sedig|first4=Jakob|last5=Rohland|first5=Nadin|last6=Cheronet|first6=Olivia|last7=Mah|first7=Matthew|last8=Mallick|first8=Swapan|last9=Olalde|first9=Iñigo|last10=Culleton|first10=Brendan J.|last11=Adamski|first11=Nicole|date=2020-12-23|title=A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean|journal=Nature|volume=590|issue=7844|pages=103–110|doi=10.1038/s41586-020-03053-2|pmid=33361817|pmc=7864882|bibcode=2021Natur.590..103F |issn=1476-4687}}</ref> to upwards of 750,000.<ref>{{Cite book|title=21st Century Anthropology: A Reference Handbook|last=Holguín|publisher=Sage Publications|year=2010|isbn=-9781412957380|location=Thousand Oaks, CA, USA}}</ref>

A Taíno home consisted of a circular building with woven straw and palm leaves as covering.<ref name="Corbett" /> Most individuals slept in fashioned hammocks, but grass beds were also used.<ref name="Poole" /> The cacique lived in a different structure with larger rectangular walls and a porch.<ref name="Corbett" /> The Taíno village also had a flat court used for ball games and festivals.<ref name="Corbett" /> Religiously, the Taíno people were polytheists, and their gods were called Zemí.<ref name="Corbett" /> Religious worship and dancing were common, and medicine men or priests also consulted the Zemí for advice in public ceremonies.<ref name="Corbett" />

For food, the Taíno relied on meat and fish as a primary source for protein.<ref name="Cook">{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Noble David |author-link=Noble David Cook |title=Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity |title-link=Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity |date=2005 |publisher=Macmillan Reference |volume=3 |chapter=Taino (Arawak) Indians}}</ref> On the island they hunted small mammals, but also snakes, worms, and birds. In lakes and in the sea they were able to catch ducks and turtles.<ref name="Corbett" /> The Taíno also relied on agriculture as a primary food source.<ref name="Cook" /> They raised crops in a conuco, which is a large mound packed with leaves and fixed crops to prevent erosion.<ref name="Corbett" /> Some common agricultural goods were cassava, maize, squash, beans, peppers, peanuts, cotton, and tobacco, which was used as an aspect of social life and religious ceremonies.<ref name="Corbett" />

[[File:Copia de Cacicazgos de la Hispaniola.png|thumbnail|Chiefdoms of Hispaniola]] The Taíno people traveled often and used hollowed canoes with paddles when on the water for fishing or for migration purposes,<ref name="Corbett" /> and upwards of 100 people could fit into a single canoe.<ref name="Poole" /> The Taíno came frequently in contact with the Caribs, another indigenous tribe.<ref name="Corbett" /> The Taíno people used bows and arrows with poisoned tips and some war clubs.<ref name="Corbett" /> When Columbus landed on Hispaniola, many Taíno leaders wanted protection from the Caribs.<ref name="Corbett" />

===Post-Columbian=== {{see also|History of the Dominican Republic|History of Haiti}} [[File:Hispaniola Vinckeboons4.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Early map of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, {{Circa|1639}}]]

Christopher Columbus first landed at Hispaniola on December 6, 1492, at a small bay he named San Nicolas, now called Môle-Saint-Nicolas on the north coast of present-day Haiti. He was welcomed by the Taíno. One of the first inhabitants Columbus came across on this island was "a girl wearing only a gold nose plug". Trading with the Taíno yielded more gold than they had come across previously on the other Caribbean islands, and Columbus was led to believe that much more gold would be found inland. Soon the Taínos were trading pieces of gold for hawk's bells<ref name="smithsonianmag-140132422">{{cite news |last1=Morgan |first1=Edmund S. |title=Columbus' Confusion About the New World |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/ |access-date=5 July 2024 |work=Smithsonian |date=October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907181123/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/ |archive-date=September 7, 2017}}</ref> with their cacique declaring the gold came from Cibao. Traveling further east from Navidad, Columbus came across the Yaque del Norte River, which he named Río de Oro (River of Gold) because its "sands abound in gold dust".<ref name="Ferdinand">{{cite book |last1=Columbus |first1=Ferdinand |title=The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus by his son Ferdinand |date=1959 |publisher=Rutgers, The State University |location=New Brunswick |pages=76–77, 83, 87}}</ref> Before he could explore further, his flagship ''Santa Maria'' ran aground and sank in the bay on December 24. With only two smaller ships remaining for the voyage home, Columbus built a fortified encampment, La Navidad, on the shore and left behind 21 crewman to await his return the following year.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morison |first1=Samuel Eliot |title=The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages |date=1974 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=79–80}}</ref>

Colonization began in earnest the following year when Columbus brought 1,300 men to Hispaniola in November 1493 with the intention of establishing a permanent settlement. They found the encampment at Navidad had been destroyed, and all the crewmen left behind had been killed by the natives. Columbus decided to sail east in search of a better site to found a settlement. In January 1494 they established La Isabela in present-day Dominican Republic.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Phillips|first=William D.|title=The worlds of Christopher Columbus|date=1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|others=Carla Rahn Phillips|isbn=0-521-35097-2|location=Cambridge [England]|pages=199–200}}</ref> Columbus later learned that the chief Caonabo had massacred his settlement at Navidad.

{{multiple image | perrow = 2 | total_width = 240 | image1 = Santo Domingo - Museo de las Casas Reales 0298.JPG | image2 = Santo Domingo - Museo de las Casas Reales 0431.JPG | image3 = Santo Domingo - Museo de las Casas Reales 0362.JPG | image4 = Santo Domingo - Museo de las Casas Reales 0354.JPG | footer = Colonial era weapons and armor in Museum of the Royal Houses. }}

While Columbus established the settlement of La Isabela in 1494, he sent Alonso de Ojeda and 15 men to search for the mines of Cibao. After a six-day journey, Ojeda came across an area containing gold, in which the gold was extracted from streams by the Taíno people. Columbus visited the mines of Cibao in March. He constructed the Fort of Santo Tomás, present day Jánico, leaving Captain Pedro Margarit in command of 56 men.<ref name="Ferdinand" />{{rp|119,122–126}} In 1495, Columbus with his ally Guacanagarix embarked on a war of revenge against Caonabo, capturing him and his family while "killing many Indians and capturing others". Afterwards, "every person of fourteen years of age or upward was to pay a large ''hawk's bell''<ref name="smithsonianmag-140132422" /> of gold dust" every three months, as "the Spaniards were sure there was more gold in the island than the natives had yet found, and were determined to make them dig it out."<ref name="smithsonianmag-140132422" /><ref name="Ferdinand" />{{rp|149–150}}

[[File:Santo Domingo - Fortaleza Ozama 0854.JPG|thumb|upright|Fortaleza Ozama]]

After being destroyed by a hurricane, Nueva Isabela was rebuilt on the opposite side of the Ozama River and called Santo Domingo. It is the oldest permanent European settlement in the Americas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/526|title=Colonial City of Santo Domingo|work=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|access-date=October 4, 2018|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The island had an important role in the establishment of Latin American colonies for decades to come. Due to its strategic location, it was the military stronghold of conquistadors of the Spanish Empire, serving as a headquarters for the further colonial expansion into the Americas. The colony was a meeting point of European explorers, soldiers, and settlers who brought with them the culture, architecture, laws, and traditions of the Old World.

Spaniards imposed a harsh regime of forced labor and enslavement of the Taínos, as well as redirection of their food production and labor to Spaniards. This had a devastating impact on both mortality and fertility of the Taíno population over the first quarter century.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Livi-Bacci|first=Massimo|year=2006|title=The Depopulation of Hispanic America after the Conquest|journal=Population and Development Review|volume=32|issue=2|pages=208–213|issn=0098-7921|jstor=20058872|doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2006.00116.x|doi-access=free}}</ref> Colonial administrators and Dominican and Hieronymite friars observed that the search for gold and agrarian enslavement through the ''encomienda'' system were deciminating the indigenous population.<ref name=":1" /> Demographic data from two provinces in 1514 shows a low birth rate, consistent with a 3.5% annual population decline. In 1503, Spaniards began to bring enslaved Africans after a charter was passed in 1501, allowing the import of African slaves. The Spanish believed Africans would be more capable of performing physical labor. From 1519 to 1533, an indigenous uprising ensued, known as Enriquillo's Revolt, after the Taíno cacique who led them. During the revolt, escaped African slaves (maroons) worked with the Taíno people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/african_laborers_for_a_new_emp/early_trans_atlantic_slave_tra|title=The Early Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: Nicolas Ovando · African Laborers for a New Empire: Iberia, Slavery, and the Atlantic World · Lowcountry Digital History Initiative|website=ldhi.library.cofc.edu |access-date=2018-10-04}}</ref>

===16th century: gold, sugar and pirates=== Gold mining using forced indigenous labor began early on Hispaniola. Miguel Díaz and Francisco de Garay discovered large gold nuggets on the lower Haina River in 1496. These San Cristobal mines were later known as the Minas Viejas mines. In 1499 the first major discovery of gold was made in the Cordillera Central, which led to a mining boom. By 1501 Columbus's cousin, Giovanni Colombo, had discovered gold near Buenaventura. The deposits were later known as Minas Nuevas. Two major mining areas resulted, one along San Cristobal-Buenaventura, and another in Cibao within the La Vega-Cotuy-Bonao triangle, while Santiago de los Caballeros, Concepción, and Bonao became mining towns. A gold rush ensued, and Royal Governor Nicolás de Ovando expropriated the gold mines of Miguel Díaz and Francisco de Garay in 1504. Pit mines became royal mines for Ferdinand II of Aragon, who reserved the best mines for himself, though placers were open to private prospectors. Ferdinand kept 967 natives in the San Cristóbal mining area, supervised by salaried miners.<ref name="Floyd">{{cite book|title=The Columbus Dynasty in the Caribbean, 1492–1526|last1=Floyd|first1=Troy|date=1973|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|location=Albuquerque|pages=44, 50, 57–58, 74}}</ref>{{rp|68,71,78,125–127}}

Under Governor Ovando, the indigenous people were forced to work in the gold mines. By 1503, the Spanish Crown legalized the allocation of private grants of indigenous labor to particular Spaniards for mining through the ''encomienda'' system. Once the indigenous were forced into mining far from their home villages, they suffered hunger and other difficult conditions. By 1508, the Taíno population of about 400,000 was reduced to 60,000, and by 1514, only 26,334 remained. About half resided in the mining towns of Concepción, Santiago, Santo Domingo, and Buenaventura. The repartimiento of 1514 accelerated emigration of the Spanish colonists, coupled with the exhaustion of the mines.<ref name="Pons">{{cite book|last1=Pons|first1=Frank|title=The Dominican Republic, A National History|url=https://archive.org/details/dominicanrepubli00fran|url-access=registration|date=1995|publisher=Hispaniola Books|location=New Rochelle|isbn=1885509014|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dominicanrepubli00fran/page/33 33–37]}}</ref><ref name="Floyd" />{{rp|191–192}} The first documented outbreak of smallpox, previously an Eastern hemisphere disease, occurred on Hispaniola in December 1518 among enslaved African miners.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The Greatest Killer: Smallpox in History|last=Hopkins|first=Donald R.|date=2002-09-15|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-35168-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatestkillersm0000hopk/page/205 205]|url=https://archive.org/details/greatestkillersm0000hopk/page/205}}</ref> Some scholars speculate that European diseases arrived before this date, but there is no compelling evidence for an outbreak.<ref name=":1" /> The natives had no acquired immunity to European diseases, including smallpox.<ref>[http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/preparedness/bt_public_history_smallpox.shtm "History of Smallpox – Smallpox Through the Ages"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314150459/http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/preparedness/bt_public_history_smallpox.shtm |date=March 14, 2016}}. ''Texas Department of State Health Services''.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiHHnV08ebkC&pg=PA62|title=A pest in the land: new world epidemics in a global perspective|last=Austin Alchon|first=Suzanne|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|year=2003|isbn=0-8263-2871-7|page=62}}</ref> By May 1519, as many as one-third of the remaining Taínos had died.<ref name=":2" /> In the century following the Spanish arrival on Hispaniola, the Taíno population fell by up to 95% of the population,<ref>S, Rosenbaum S. Alan. ''Is the Holocaust Unique?: Perspectives on Comparative Genocide''. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2018. Page 302,313.</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/americanholocaus00stan|title=American holocaust: the conquest of the New World|first=David E.|last=Stannard|date=October 14, 1993|publisher=New York: Oxford University Press|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15283480701326034|title=Us and Them: Identity and Genocide|first=David|last=Moshman|date=May 15, 2007|journal=Identity|volume=7|issue=2|pages=115–135|via=Taylor and Francis+NEJM|doi=10.1080/15283480701326034|s2cid=143561036|url-access=subscription}}</ref> out of a pre-contact population estimated from tens of thousands<ref name="2020 genetic" /><ref name="auto1"/> to 8,000,000.<ref name="auto2"/> Many authors have described the treatment of Tainos in Hispaniola under the Spanish Empire as genocide.<ref>Multiple sources: * {{cite book| first = Russel| last = Thornton| title = American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492| year = 1987| location = Norman |publisher= University of Oklahoma Press| isbn = 978-0-8061-2074-4| page = 16 |url = https://archive.org/details/americanindianho00thor_0}} * Churchill, Ward, ''A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present'', City Lights, 1997, 381 pages, p. 86, {{ISBN|978-0-87286-323-1}} * {{cite journal |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Sheri P. |title=Genocide is a Process, Not an Event |journal=Genocide Studies and Prevention |date=2012 |volume=7 |pages=16–23 |doi=10.3138/gsp.7.1.16}} * {{cite journal |last1=Moshman |first1=David |title=Us and Them: Identity and Genocide |journal=Identity |date=2007 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=115–135 |doi=10.1080/15283480701326034}} * {{cite journal |last1=Hinton |first1=Alexander Laban |title=Critical Genocide Studies |journal=Genocide Studies and Prevention |date=2012 |volume=7 |pages=4–15 |doi=10.3138/gsp.7.1.4}} * Keegan, William F., "Destruction of the Taino" in ''Archaeology''. January/February 1992, pp. 51–56. * Grenke, Arthur. ''God, Greed, and Genocide: The Holocaust Through the Centuries''. New Academia Publishing, LLC, 2005. pp. 141–143, 200. * Rosenbaum, Alan S. ''Is the Holocaust Unique?: Perspectives On Comparative Genocide''. Routledge, 2018. p. 302. * Donald Bloxham, A. Dirk Moses, ''The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies'', Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 310. * Norman M Naimark, ''Genocide a World History'', Oxford University Press, 2017, p. 39. * Jones, Adam. 2006. ''Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction''. London: Routledge. pp. 108–111.</ref>

Sugar cane was introduced by settlers from the Canary Islands, and the first sugar mill in the New World was established in 1516 on Hispaniola.<ref>Sugar Cane: Past and Present, Peter Sharpe {{cite web |url=http://www.siu.edu/~ebl/leaflets/sugar.htm |title=Ethnobotanical Leaflets |access-date=2008-07-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518084734/http://www.siu.edu/~ebl/leaflets/sugar.htm |archive-date=2008-05-18}}</ref> The need for a labor force to meet the growing demands of sugar cane cultivation led to an exponential increase in the importation of slaves over the following two decades. The sugar mill owners soon formed a new colonial elite.<ref>{{cite book |last= Williams |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Williams |date=1984 |orig-year=1970 |title=From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean |url= https://archive.org/details/fromcolumbustoca00wil_gvb |url-access= registration |publisher=Vintage |page=[https://archive.org/details/fromcolumbustoca00wil_gvb/page/26 26] |isbn=0-394-71502-0}}</ref> The first major slave revolt in the Americas occurred in Santo Domingo during 1521, when enslaved Muslims of the Wolof nation led an uprising in the sugar plantation of admiral Don Diego Colon, son of Christopher Columbus. Many of these insurgents managed to escape where they formed independent maroon communities in the south of the island.

Beginning in the 1520s, the Caribbean Sea was raided by increasingly numerous French pirates. In 1541, Spain authorized the construction of Santo Domingo's fortified wall and in 1560 decided to restrict sea travel to enormous, well-armed convoys. In another move, which would destroy Hispaniola's sugar industry, in 1561 Havana, which was more strategically located in relation to the Gulf Stream, was selected as the designated stopping point for the merchant ''flotas'', which had a royal monopoly on commerce with the Americas. In 1564, the island's main inland cities Santiago de los Caballeros and Concepción de la Vega were destroyed by an earthquake. In the 1560s, English privateers joined the French in regularly raiding Spanish shipping in the Americas.

===17th century: European skirmishes, division of the island and trade=== thumb|upright=1.3|The main cities and towns of the Spanish in the early 1600s. thumb|Spanish Caribbean Islands in the American Viceroyalties in the 1600s.

By the early 17th century, Hispaniola and its nearby islands (notably Tortuga) became regular stopping points for Caribbean pirates. In 1606, the government of Philip III ordered all inhabitants of Hispaniola to move close to Santo Domingo, to fight against piracy. Rather than secure the island, his action meant that French, English, and Dutch pirates established their own bases on the less populated north and west coasts of the island.

In 1625, French and English pirates arrived on Tortuga, which was originally settled by a few Spanish colonists. The pirates were attacked in 1629 by Spanish forces commanded by Don Fadrique de Toledo, who had fortified the island, and expelled the French and English. As most of the Spanish army left for the main island of Hispaniola to root out French colonists there, the French returned to Tortuga in 1630 and had battles for several decades. In 1654, the Spanish re-captured Tortuga for the last time.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |url=http://www.thepirateking.com/books/books_buccaneersintewestindies_ch04.htm|title=The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century |chapter=Chapter Four: Tortuga: 1655-1664 |via=www.thepirateking.com}}</ref>

[[File:Histoire des Colonies-Guillon-Ile de la Tortue.jpg|thumb|right|Ile de la Tortue (Tortuga island) made Hispaniola a center of pirate activity in the 17th century.]]

In 1655 Tortuga was reoccupied by the English and French. In 1660 the English appointed a Frenchman as governor who proclaimed the King of France, set up French colours, and defeated several English attempts to reclaim the island.<ref name="auto"/> In 1665, French colonization of the island was officially recognized by King Louis XIV. The French colony was given the name Saint-Domingue. By 1670 a Welsh privateer named Henry Morgan invited the pirates on Tortuga to set sail under him. They were hired by the French as a striking force that allowed France to have a much stronger hold on the Caribbean region. Consequently, the pirates never really controlled the island and kept Tortuga as a neutral hideout. The capital of the French Colony of Saint-Domingue was moved from Tortuga to Port-de-Paix on Hispaniola in 1676.

In 1680, new Acts of Parliament forbade sailing under foreign flags (in opposition to former practice). This was a major legal blow to the Caribbean pirates. Settlements were made in the Treaty of Ratisbon of 1684, signed by the European powers, that put an end to piracy. Most of the pirates after this time were hired out into the Royal services to suppress their former buccaneer allies. In the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain formally ceded the western third of the island to France.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266962/Hispaniola |title=Hispaniola Article |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |access-date=4 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://cardiostart.org/blog/ |title=Dominican Republic 2014 |access-date=24 April 2014}}</ref> Saint-Domingue quickly came to overshadow the east in both wealth and population. Nicknamed the "Pearl of the Antilles", it became the most prosperous colony in the West Indies, with a system of human slavery used to grow and harvest sugar cane during a time when European demand for sugar was high. Slavery kept costs low and profit was maximized. It was an important port in the Americas for goods and products flowing to and from France and Europe.

===18th century to 19th century: Independence=== [[File:Revolucion Haitiana.png|thumb|The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) is highlighted as Haiti's most fierce struggle for independence. To this day, it remains one of the most significant independence movements formed via slave revolt in history. ]] European colonists often died young due to tropical fevers, as well as from violent slave resistance in the late 18th century. In 1791, during the French Revolution, a major slave revolt broke out on Saint-Domingue. When the French Republic abolished slavery in the colonies on February 4, 1794, it was a European first.<ref>Popkin, Jeremy D. (2008) ''Facing Racial Revolution: Eyewitness Accounts of the Haitian Insurrection''. pp. 184–213. {{ISBN|0226675831}}</ref> The ex-slave army joined forces with France in its war against its European neighbors. In the second 1795 Treaty of Basel (July 22), Spain ceded the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, later to become the Dominican Republic. French settlers had begun to colonize some areas in the Spanish side of the territory.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

Under Napoleon, France reimposed slavery in most of its Caribbean islands in 1802 and sent an army to bring the island into full control. However, thousands of the French troops succumbed to yellow fever during the summer months, and more than half of the French army died because of disease.<ref name="Bollet_2004">{{cite book | last= Bollet | first= A.J. | title= Plagues and Poxes: The Impact of Human History on Epidemic Disease | pages= [https://archive.org/details/plaguespoxesimpa00boll/page/48 48–49] | publisher= Demos Medical Publishing | year= 2004 | isbn= 1-888799-79-X | url-access= registration | url= https://archive.org/details/plaguespoxesimpa00boll/page/48}}</ref> After an extremely brutal war with atrocities committed on both sides, the French removed the surviving 7,000 troops in late 1803, and the surviving leaders of the Haitian Revolution declared western Hispaniola the new nation of independent Haiti in early 1804. France continued to rule Spanish Santo Domingo. In 1805, after renewed hostilities with the ruling French government in Santo Domingo, Haitian troops of General Jean Jacques Dessalines tried to conquer all of Hispaniola. He launched an invasion of Santo Domingo and sacked the towns of Santiago de los Caballeros and Moca, killing most of their residents, but news of a French fleet sailing towards Haiti forced the invading army to withdraw from the east, leaving it in French hands. [[File:Mapa de la colonia de santo domingo durante la ocupación francesa.png|thumb|The Spanish reconquest of Santo Domingo (1808–1809) led to the end of French colonialism in Santo Domingo, and subsequently, marked the end of French presence in Hispaniola. ]] [[File:Dominican Republic War of Independence.jpg|thumb|The Dominican War of Independence (1844–1856) was the first war of liberation of the Dominican Republic. This war consolidated the Dominican national identity, which was forged through its independence proclamations of 1821 and 1844.]] [[File:Fortaleza San Luis - Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración.jpg|thumb|upright|The Dominican Restoration War (1863–1865) is remembered as the Dominican Republic's second struggle for independence from Spain, as well as the closure of the fight against European imperialism on the island.]] In 1808, a second revolution against France broke out on the island. Following Napoleon's invasion of Spain, the criollos of Santo Domingo revolted against the French regime. With the aid of Great Britain, the French was defeated, and Santo Domingo was returned to Spanish control. France would never regain control of the island, and after some 12 years of Spanish dominion, the leaders in Santo Domingo revolted again, and eastern Hispaniola was declared independent as the Republic of Spanish Haiti in 1821. Fearing the influence of a society of slaves that had successfully revolted against their owners, the United States and European powers refused to recognize Haiti, the second republic in the Western Hemisphere. France demanded a high payment for compensation to slaveholders who lost their property, and Haiti was saddled with unmanageable debt for decades.<ref name="natural">Diamond, Jared M. and Robinson, James A. (2011) ''Natural Experiments of History''. pp. 126–128. {{ISBN|9780674060197}}</ref> By this point, the entire island was united under Haitian control. However, suppression of the Dominican culture and the imposition of heavy taxation would lead to the Dominican War of Independence and the establishment of the Dominican Republic in 1844. (This is one of the reasons for the tensions between the two countries today). Years of war, political chaos and economic crisis came to an end with a reintegration of the Dominican Republic to Spanish rule in 1861, at the request of discouraged Dominican political leaders who had hoped that the Spanish would restore order to the country. However, just as in the España Boba period, taxations, corruption, and second class treatment of the Dominicans caused support for the regime to wane, and new independence movements had sparked throughout the country. In August 1863, the Dominican Restoration War erupted on the island, and after suffering heavy defeats, the Spanish Crown capitulated. A royal decree, the Treaty of El Carmelo, recognized the independence of the Dominican Republic, and the Spanish were expelled for good in 1865. Renewed annexation projects, this time to the United States, was defeated in Congress, and the masterminds were ousted in an uprising in 1874. Both states have remained independent since then.

===20th century to present: Foreign intervention, dictatorships, aftermath=== In the 20th century, however, both states have endured similar outcomes. With many ensuing conflicts such as Banana Wars and World War I taking place, political and economic instabilities continued to ravage as constant power struggles and civil wars engulfed among leaders in both states. Such actions triggered renewed external interest in launching military interventions on the island. This would finally come with U.S. forces issuing a military occupation of both states, first with Haiti in 1915, and the Dominican Republic in 1916. In the following decades after American forces departed from the island, both states would be ruled by heavy handed politicians that had risen to prominence during the American occupation. Haiti's François Duvalier (Papa Doc) and his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc) and Dominican Republic's Rafael Trujillo would emerge as the leading autocratic rulers at this time. Eventually, the dictatorships of both countries came to a close with the assassination of Trujillo in 1961, (which plunged the country into chaos, triggering a bloody revolution and a second U.S intervention in 1965), and the death of François Duvalier and overthrow of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1971 and 1986, respectively. Both states would return to a democratic government, as proven with the elections of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti, and Joaquín Balaguer in the Dominican Republic. From this point forward, however, the two countries underwent two distinct paths, both politically and economically. While the Dominican Republic was able to recover from the political crisis that ravaged the country since its conception in 1844, Haiti's political crisis continued to destabilize. The political chaos that erupted following the overthrow of Aristide in 2004 caused a mass intervention by the U.N., which lasted until 2017. Even by that point, Haiti had already suffered a massive catastrophic earthquake in 2010, cholera outbreaks continued, and gang violence had escalated further, which is still ongoing to this day.

Haiti would become one of the poorest countries in the Americas, while the Dominican Republic<ref name="natural" /> gradually has developed into one of the largest economies of Central America and the Caribbean.

==Geography== {{see also|Geography of Haiti|Geography of the Dominican Republic|Islands of Haiti|Navassa Island|Caribbean bioregion}} thumb|upright=1.3|Topographic map

Hispaniola is the second-largest island in the Caribbean (after Cuba), with an area of {{convert|76192|km2|sqmi|sp=us}}, {{convert|48440|km2|sqmi|sp=us}}<ref>{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Dominican Republic|date=November 18, 2021}}</ref> of which is under the sovereignty of the Dominican Republic occupying the eastern portion and {{convert|27750|km2|sqmi|sp=us}}<ref name="cia.gov"/> under the sovereignty of Haiti occupying the western portion.

The island of Cuba lies {{convert|80|km|mi|sp=us}} to the west across the Windward Passage; to the southwest lie Jamaica, separated by the Jamaica Channel, the Cayman Islands and Navassa Island; {{convert|190|km|mi|abbr=on}} . Puerto Rico lies {{convert|130|km|mi|abbr=on}} east of Hispaniola across the Mona Passage. The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands lie to the north. Its westernmost point is known as Cap Carcasse. Cuba, Cayman Islands, Navassa Island, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico are collectively known as the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is also a part of the Antilles and the West Indies.

The island has five major ranges of mountains: The Central Range, known in the Dominican Republic as the Cordillera Central, spans the central part of the island, extending from the south coast of the Dominican Republic into northwestern Haiti, where it is known as the Massif du Nord. This mountain range boasts the highest peak in the Antilles, Pico Duarte at {{convert|3101|m|ft|sp=us}} above sea level.<ref name=ojala>{{cite news |title=El Pico Duarte es apenas 4 metros más alto que La Pelona |url=https://ojala.do/ciencia-y-tecnologia/el-pico-duarte-es-apenas-4-metros-mas-alto-que-la-pelona |access-date=26 July 2022 |publisher=ojala.do |date=2021 |language=es}}</ref> The Cordillera Septentrional runs parallel to the Central Range across the northern end of the Dominican Republic, extending into the Atlantic Ocean as the Samaná Peninsula. The Cordillera Central and Cordillera Septentrional are separated by the lowlands of the Cibao Valley and the Atlantic coastal plains, which extend westward into Haiti as the Plaine du Nord (Northern Plain). The lowest of the ranges is the Cordillera Oriental, in the eastern part of the country.<ref name="Bowin">{{cite book|last1=Bowin|first1=Carl|editor1-last=Nairn|editor1-first=Alan|editor2-last=Stehli|editor2-first=Francis|title=The Geology of Hispaniola, in The Ocean Basins and Margins|date=1975|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media, LLC|location=New York|isbn=9781468485370|page=503}}</ref>

The Sierra de Neiba rises in the southwest of the Dominican Republic, and continues northwest into Haiti, parallel to the Cordillera Central, as the Montagnes Noires, Chaîne des Matheux and the Montagnes du Trou d'Eau. The Plateau Central lies between the Massif du Nord and the Montagnes Noires, and the Plaine de l'Artibonite lies between the Montagnes Noires and the Chaîne des Matheux, opening westward toward the Gulf of Gonâve, the largest gulf of the Antilles.<ref name=Bowin/>

The southern range begins in the southwesternmost Dominican Republic as the Sierra de Bahoruco, and extends west into Haiti as the Massif de la Selle and the Massif de la Hotte, which form the mountainous spine of Haiti's southern peninsula. Pic de la Selle is the highest peak in the southern range, the third highest peak in the Antilles and consequently the highest point in Haiti, at {{convert|2680|m|ft|sp=us}} above sea level. A depression runs parallel to the southern range, between the southern range and the Chaîne des Matheux-Sierra de Neiba. It is known as the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac in Haiti, and Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince lies at its western end. The depression is home to a chain of salt lakes, including Lake Azuei in Haiti and Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic.<ref name=Bowin/>

The island has four distinct ecoregions. The Hispaniolan moist forests ecoregion covers approximately 50% of the island, especially the northern and eastern portions, predominantly in the lowlands but extending up to {{convert|2100|m|ft|sp=us}} elevation. The Hispaniolan dry forests ecoregion occupies approximately 20% of the island, lying in the rain shadow of the mountains in the southern and western portion of the island and in the Cibao valley in the center-north of the island. The Hispaniolan pine forests occupy the mountainous 15% of the island, above {{convert|850|m|ft}} elevation. The flooded grasslands and savannas ecoregion in the south central region of the island surrounds a chain of lakes and lagoons in which the most notable include that of Lake Azuei and Trou Caïman in Haiti and the nearby Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/nt0903|title=Caribbean: Island of Hispaniola {{!}} Ecoregions {{!}} WWF|website=World Wildlife Fund|access-date=2018-12-06}}</ref> which is not only the lowest point of the island, but also the lowest point for an island country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/geography/highest-and-lowest-points-of-countries-of-the-world.html|title=Highest And Lowest Points Of Countries Of The World|date=May 20, 2021|website=WorldAtlas}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="200px" heights="145px> File:Caribbean location map.svg|Caribbean locations File:Caribbean maritime boundaries map.svg|Caribbean maritime boundaries File:LocationAntilles.svg|Antilles File:Caribbean general map.png|Caribbean general map and map of the Caribbean Sea File:Samana-Laslovarga (105).jpg|Bay of Samana Province in the northeastern region of the Dominican Republic File:Samana-Laslovarga (113).jpg|Bay of Samana Province in the northeastern region of the Dominican Republic </gallery>

Hispaniola's climate shows considerable variation due to its diverse mountainous topography, and is the most varied island of all the Antilles.<ref name="areal">{{cite journal |last=Alpert |first=Leo |title=The Areal Distribution of Mean Annual Rainfall Over the Island of Hispaniola|doi=10.1175/1520-0493(1941)069<0201:TADOMA>2.0.CO;2|year=1941|volume=69|pages=201–204|journal=Monthly Weather Review|issue=7|bibcode=1941MWRv...69..201A |doi-access=free}}</ref> Except in the Northern Hemisphere summer season, the predominant winds over Hispaniola are the northeast trade winds. As in Jamaica and Cuba, these winds deposit their moisture on the northern mountains, and create a distinct rain shadow on the southern coast, where some areas receive as little as {{convert|400|mm|in|0}} of rainfall, and have semi-arid climates. Annual rainfall under {{convert|600|mm|in|0}} also occurs on the southern coast of Haiti's northwest peninsula and in the central Azúa region of the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac. In these regions, moreover, there is generally little rainfall outside hurricane season from August to October, and droughts are by no means uncommon when hurricanes do not come.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Camberlin |first=Pierre |doi=10.3354/cr00856|url=http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/49/82/26/PDF/camberlin_CR_revised.pdf|title=More variable tropical climates have a slower demographic growth|year=2010|journal=Climate Research|volume=41|pages=157–167|bibcode=2010ClRes..41..157C |doi-access=free}}</ref> On the northern coast, in contrast, rainfall may peak between December and February, though some rain falls in all months of the year. Annual amounts typically range from {{convert|1700|to|2000|mm|in|0}} on the northern coastal lowlands;<ref name="areal"/> there is probably much more in the Cordillera Septentrional, though no data exist. The interior of Hispaniola, along with the southeastern coast centered around Santo Domingo, typically receives around {{convert|1400|mm|in|0}} per year, with a distinct season from May to October. Usually, this wet season has two peaks: one around May, the other around the hurricane season. In the interior highlands, rainfall is much greater, around {{convert|3100|mm|in}} per year, but with a similar pattern to that observed in the central lowlands.

The variations of temperature depend on altitude and are much less marked than rainfall variations in the island. Lowland Hispaniola is generally more hot and humid, with temperatures averaging {{convert|28|C|F}}. with high humidity during the daytime, and around {{convert|20|C|F}} at night. At higher altitudes, temperatures fall steadily, so that frosts occur during the dry season on the highest peaks, where maxima are no higher than {{convert|18|C|F}}.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="124px" class="center"> File:Hato mayor, dominican republic waterfall.jpg|Salto de Jalda in Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic, the tallest waterfall in the Caribbean File:View of Haitian Landscape hispaniola.jpg|Les Cayes, Sud, Haiti File:Constanza, valle nuevo, clima invierno..jpg|Frosted alpine forest in Constanza, Dominican Republic File:Cabo Cabrón, (Rincón Beach) Samaná, DR.JPG|Tropical rainforest climate in Samana, Dominican Republic File:Jaragua National Park (Road2).JPG|Semi-arid climate in Pedernales, Hispaniolan dry forests, Dominican Republic and Haiti File:Dunas de Baní 1.jpg|Desert sand dunes of Baní, Dominican Republic File:Cordillera Central.jpg|Cordillera Central in the Dominican Republic has the highest elevation of the Caribbean File:Lake Enriquillo.jpg|Lake Enriquillo, Dominican Republic File:Lake Enriquillo sentinel-2.jpg|Lake Enriquillo is the biggest saltwater—hypersaline lake in the Dominican Republic. It is located in Enriquillo wetlands, and is the largest lake in both the Dominican Republic and Hispaniola, as well as the entire Caribbean. At 46-meters below sea level, it is the lowest point on the island or any island country. File:Rio Yaque del Norte, looking south, July 2009 - panoramio.jpg|Yaque del Norte river, Dominican Republic File:Lago de OviedoWW.jpg|Oviedo Lake in Pedernales, Dominican Republic File:La ciudad desde la carretera - panoramio.jpg|Hispaniolan moist forests, hills north of Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic and Haiti File:Hispaniolanpineforest.jpg|Hispaniolan pine forests as seen from Pico Duarte, Dominican Republic and Haiti File:Gfp-looking-at-the-horizon.jpg|Nord (Haitian department), La Belle Mère, Haiti </gallery>

===Fauna=== {{see also|The Birds of Haiti and the Dominican Republic{{!}}''The Birds of Haiti and the Dominican Republic''|List of amphibians of Hispaniola|List of mammals of the Dominican Republic|List of birds of the Dominican Republic|List of birds of Haiti|List of mammals of Haiti|Wildlife of Haiti|Environment of Haiti|List of birds of Hispaniola|List of amphibians of the Dominican Republic|List of amphibians of Haiti|Mammals of the Caribbean|List of mammals of North America|List of recently extinct mammals|List of prehistoric mammals|Pilosans of the Caribbean|List of rodents of the Caribbean|List of rodents of the Caribbean|Caribbean bioregion|Fauna and Flora International}}

There are many bird species in Hispaniola, and the island's amphibian species are also diverse. There are many species endemic to the island including insects and other invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, birds and mammals (originally animals, native animals) and also (imported animals, introduced animals, not native animals or invasive species) like farm animals, transport animals, house animals, pets and more. The two endemic terrestrial mammals on the island are the Hispaniolan hutia (''Plagiodontia aedium'') and the Hispaniolan solenodon (''Solenodon paradoxus''). There are also many birds on the island, with six endemic genera (''Calyptophilus'', ''Dulus'', ''Nesoctites'', ''Phaenicophilus'', ''Xenoligea'' and ''Microligea''). More than half of the original distribution of its ecoregions has been lost due to habitat destruction impacting the local fauna and some of the original animals either threat, threatened with extinction or totally extinct, because of climate change or because they have been hunted by humans or their habitats have been felled or changed for some reasons or have become some of the animals have been threatened by (introduced animals, not native animals or invasive species) or there are fighting for space to survive and perhaps some animals that feed on the same plants or animals or just something like that.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/nt0305|title=The island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean|website=World Wildlife Fund|access-date=October 4, 2018|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===Flora=== {{see also|List of national parks of the Dominican Republic|Environment of Haiti|Flora of the Dominican Republic|List of palms native to the Caribbean|List of near threatened plants|List of Agave species{{!}}List of ''Agave'' species|List of trees of the Caribbean|List of critically endangered plants|List of IUCN Red List vulnerable plants|List of endangered plants|List of recently extinct plants|List of plants that are extinct in the wild|List of recently extinct plants}} [[File:Haiti deforestation.jpg|thumbnail|Satellite image depicting the border between Haiti (left) and the Dominican Republic (right)]]

In Haiti, deforestation has long been cited by scientists as a source of ecological crisis; the timber industry dates back to French colonial rule. Haiti has seen a dramatic reduction of forests due to the excessive and increasing use of charcoal as fuel for cooking. Various media outlets have suggested that the country has just 2% forest cover, but this has not been substantiated by research.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/one-of-the-most-repeated-facts-about-deforestation-in-haiti-is-a-lie/ |title=One of the Most Repeated Facts about Haiti is a Lie |editor=O'Connor, M. R. |date=13 October 2016 |publisher=Vice News}}</ref>

Also extremely important are the rarely mentioned species of ''Pinguicula casabitoana'' (a carnivorous plant), ''Gonocalyx tetraptera'', ''Gesneria sylvicola'', ''Lyonia alaini'' and ''Myrcia saliana'', as well as palo de viento (''Didymopanax tremulus''), jaiqui (''Bumelia salicifolia''), pino criciolio (''Pino criciol''), sangre de pollo (''Mecranium amigdalinum'') and palo santo (''Alpinia speciosa''). According to reports in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the flora in this naturally protected area consists of 621 species of vascular plants, of which 153 are highly endemic to Hispaniola. The most prominent endemic species of flora that abound in the area are ebano verde (green ebony), ''Magnolia pallescens'', a highly endangered hardwood.

Recent in-depth studies of satellite imagery and environmental analysis regarding forest classification conclude that Haiti actually has approximately 30% tree cover;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.envirosociety.org/2016/05/haiti-is-covered-with-trees/ |title=Haiti is Covered with Trees |website=EnviroSociety|date=May 19, 2016 |publisher=Tarter, Andrew|access-date=19 May 2016}}</ref> this is, nevertheless, a stark decrease from the country's 60% forest cover in 1925. The country has been significantly deforested over the last 50 years, resulting in the desertification of many portions of Haiti. Haiti's poor citizens use cooking fires often, and this is a major culprit behind the nation's loss of trees. Haitians use trees as fuel either by burning the wood directly, or by first turning it into charcoal in ovens. Seventy-one percent of all fuel consumed in Haiti is wood or charcoal.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Bright-Green/2010/0120/After-the-earthquake-Haiti-s-deforestation-needs-attention | title=After the earthquake: Haiti's deforestation needs attention | journal=Christian Science Monitor}}</ref> Haiti's government began establishing protected areas across the country in 1968. These 26 areas today represent nearly 7 per cent of the country's land and 1.5 per cent of its waters.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/haiti-communities-take-aim-deforestation | title=In Haiti, communities take aim at deforestation | date=June 3, 2021}}</ref>

In the Dominican Republic, the forest cover has increased. In 2003, the Dominican Republic's forest cover had been reduced to 32% of its land area, but by 2011, forest cover had increased to nearly 40%. The success of the Dominican forest growth is due to several Dominican government policies and private organizations for the purpose of reforesting, and a strong educational campaign that has resulted in increased awareness by the Dominican people of the importance of forests for their welfare and other forms of life on the island.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.funglode.org/notice/republica-dominicana-aumenta-su-cobertura-boscosa-a-39-7/|title=República Dominicana aumenta su cobertura boscosa a 39.7% - Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo|access-date=October 27, 2014|archive-date=April 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405210925/http://www.funglode.org/notice/republica-dominicana-aumenta-su-cobertura-boscosa-a-39-7/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Demographics== {{Main|Demographics of the Dominican Republic|Demographics of Haiti}}

thumb|upright|Peoples of the Dominican Republic thumb|Peoples of Haiti in Port-de-Paix in Haiti

Hispaniola is the most populous Caribbean island with a combined population of 23 million inhabitants {{As of|2023|July|lc=y}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://population.un.org/wpp/ |title=World Population Prospects, 2023 Revision|publisher=United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Population Estimates and Projections Section|date=11 July 2022|access-date=10 February 2023}}</ref>

The Dominican Republic is a Hispanophone nation of approximately 11.3 million people. Spanish is spoken by essentially all Dominicans as a primary language. Roman Catholicism is the official and dominant religion and some Evangelicalism and Protestant churches and The Church of Jesus Christ and minority religions such as African religions, Afro-American religions, African diaspora religions, Haitian Vodou, Dominican Vodou, Dominican Santeria, Congos Del Espiritu Santo, Dominican Protestants, Pentecostals, Judaism, Islam and Baháʼí Faith, Hinduism, Buddhism, Unitarian Universalism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostalism and others also exist.

thumb|People of Haitian origin in the Dominican Republic thumb|Haiti Population Density, 2000

Haiti is a Creole-speaking nation of roughly 11.7 million people. Although French is spoken as a primary language by the educated and wealthy minority, virtually the entire population speaks Haitian Creole, one of several French-derived creole languages. Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion, practiced by more than half the population, although in some cases in combination with Haitian Vodou faith. Another 25% of the populace belong to Protestant churches.<ref>{{cite web|title=The World Factbook|website=Cia.gov|date=November 22, 2021|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/haiti/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109155536/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/haiti|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 9, 2021}}</ref>

===Ethnic composition=== {{See also|People of the Dominican Republic|People of Haiti}}

The ethnic composition of the Dominican population is 73% Mulatto or mixed ethnicity,<ref>{{cite web|title=DOMINICAN REPUBLIC|url=http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Dominican-Republic.html|website=Encyclopedia of the Nations}}</ref> 16% white and 11% black. Descendants of early Spanish settlers and of black slaves from West/Central Africa constitute the two main racial strains. This genetic pattern reflects the societal organization of the former Spanish colonies, such as the Dominican Republic, characterized by a high degree of interethnic relationships between European men and Native American/Taino or African women. Government policy under the Spanish Crown did not prohibit interethnic relationships throughout the colony.<ref name="doi.org">{{Cite journal |last1=D’Atanasio |first1=Eugenia |last2=Trionfetti |first2=Flavia |last3=Bonito |first3=Maria |last4=Sellitto |first4=Daniele |last5=Coppa |first5=Alfredo |last6=Berti |first6=Andrea |last7=Trombetta |first7=Beniamino |last8=Cruciani |first8=Fulvio |date=2020-09-01 |title=Y Haplogroup Diversity of the Dominican Republic: Reconstructing the Effect of the European Colonization and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trades |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaa176 |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |volume=12 |issue=9 |pages=1579–1590 |doi=10.1093/gbe/evaa176 |pmid=32835369 |pmc=7523727 |issn=1759-6653}}</ref>

At an individual level, Mulattos in the Dominican Republic tend to be approximately 50-60% European, 40-50% Sub-Saharan African, and 8-10% Native American (Taíno).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Estrada-Veras |first1=Juvianee I. |last2=Cabrera-Peña |first2=Giselle A. |last3=Pérez-Estrella de Ferrán |first3=Ceila |date=May 2016 |title=Medical genetics and genomic medicine in the Dominican Republic: challenges and opportunities |url=https://doi.org/10.1002/mgg3.224 |journal=Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=243–256 |doi=10.1002/mgg3.224 |pmid=27247952 |pmc=4867558 |issn=2324-9269}}</ref>

The ethnic composition of Haiti is estimated to be 95% black and 5% white and Mulatto.

The 19:1 ratio of blacks to whites is correlated with the societal organization of former French colonies, such as Haiti. In the British and French colonies, the segregation of slaves was stronger than in the Spanish territories as interethnic marriages were prohibited and no rights were recognized to children of parents of different ethnicity. Therefore, in the former British and French territories, the separation between the two main groups (i.e. European colonists and African slaves) was sharper and the admixture reduced.<ref name="doi.org"/>

In addition, a slave rebellion broke out in the colony that eventually ended with the independence of Haiti and a massacre of most of the white population.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coupeau |first=Steeve |date=2007 |title=The History of Haiti |url=https://doi.org/10.5040/9798400664830 |doi=10.5040/9798400664830|isbn=979-8-4006-6483-0 }}</ref> This is reflected by the mtDNA and Y haplogroup composition of the Haitians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=D’Atanasio |first1=Eugenia |last2=Trionfetti |first2=Flavia |last3=Bonito |first3=Maria |last4=Sellitto |first4=Daniele |last5=Coppa |first5=Alfredo |last6=Berti |first6=Andrea |last7=Trombetta |first7=Beniamino |last8=Cruciani |first8=Fulvio |date=2020-09-01 |editor-last=Huerta-Sanchez |editor-first=Emilia |title=Y Haplogroup Diversity of the Dominican Republic: Reconstructing the Effect of the European Colonization and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trades |url=https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/12/9/1579/5896526 |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |language=en |volume=12 |issue=9 |pages=1579–1590 |doi=10.1093/gbe/evaa176 |issn=1759-6653 |pmc=7523727 |pmid=32835369}}</ref>

In recent times, Dominican and Puerto Rican researchers identified in the current Dominican population the presence of genes belonging to the aborigines of the Canary Islands (commonly called Guanches).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.soitu.es/soitu/2008/10/09/info/1223573146_635959.html|title=Un estudio descubre la presencia de genes guanches en la República Dominicana | soitu.es|website=www.soitu.es}}</ref> These genes also have been detected in Puerto Rico.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/amazonasfilm/2009/7/12/un-estudio-del-genoma-taino-y-guanche-adn-o-dna-primera-parte|title=La Comunidad » Documentales Gratis » Un Estudio Del Genoma Taino Y Guanche. Adn O Dna. Primera parte|date=February 6, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206133647/http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/amazonasfilm/2009/7/12/un-estudio-del-genoma-taino-y-guanche-adn-o-dna-primera-parte|archive-date=February 6, 2010}}</ref>

==Economics== {{see also|Economy of Haiti|Economy of the Dominican Republic}} thumb|right|Historical GDP per capita development in the Dominican Republic and Haiti [[File:Geologic Map Dominican Republic.png|thumb|upright= 1.3|Geological map of Hispaniola. Mzb are Mesozoic amphibolites and associated metasedimentary rocks, Ki are Cretaceous plutons, Kv are Cretaceous volcanic rocks, uK are Upper Cretaceous marine strata, Ku are Cretaceous sedimentary and volcanic rocks, K are Cretaceous marine strata, IT are Eocene or Paleocene marine strata, uT are Post-Eocene marine strata, T are Tertiary marine strata, V are volcanic rocks, and Q are Quaternary alluvium. The black triangles indicate the Late Eocene Hatillo Thrust fault.]]

The island has the largest economy in the Greater Antilles; however, most of the economic development is found in the Dominican Republic, the Dominican economy being above 1000% larger than the Haitian economy. {{As of|2025|}}, the estimated annual per capita income is US$3040 in Haiti and US$30,870 in the Dominican Republic.<ref name="usat201001">{{cite news| first=Marisol | last=Bello | title=Hispaniola comparison | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-01-21-Haiti-Dominican_N.htm?csp=34| newspaper=USA Today | date=January 21, 2010 | access-date=2016-10-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=HT|title=GDP per capita (current US$) - Haiti {{!}} Data|website=data.worldbank.org|access-date=2020-04-05}}</ref>

The divergence between the level of economic development in Haiti and the Dominican Republic makes its border the highest contrast of all western land borders.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Group |first=Samana |date=2024-02-08 |title=The Divergent Paths of Haiti and the Dominican Republic • Samana Group |url=https://samana-group.net/the-divergent-paths-of-haiti-and-the-dominican-republic/ |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=Samana Group |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Natural resources=== The island also has an economic history and current day interest and involvement in precious metals. In 1860, it was observed that the island contained a large supply of gold, which the early Spaniards had hardly developed.<ref name="Courtney">{{cite book|last1=Courtney|first1=W.S.|title=The Gold Fields of St. Domingo|url=https://archive.org/details/goldfieldsstdom00courgoog|date=1860|publisher=Anson P. Norton|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/goldfieldsstdom00courgoog/page/n130 123]–125}}</ref> By 1919, Condit and Ross noted that much of the island was covered by government granted concessions for mining different types of minerals. Besides gold, these minerals included silver, manganese, copper, magnetite, iron and nickel.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Condit|first1=D. Dale|last2=Ross|first2=Clyde P.|title=Economic Geology, Chapter X, in A Geological Reconnaissance of the Dominican Republic|date=1921|publisher=United States Geological Survey|location=Washington|page=228}}</ref>

Mining operations in 2016 have taken advantage of the volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits around Maimón. To the northeast, the Pueblo Viejo Gold Mine was operated by state-owned Rosario Dominicana from 1975 until 1991. In 2009, Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation, formed by Barrick Gold and Goldcorp, started open-pit mining operations of the Monte Negro and Moore oxide deposits. The mined ore is processed with gold cyanidation. Pyrite and sphalerite are the main sulfide minerals found in the 120-meter thick volcanic conglomerates and agglomerates, which constitute the world's second largest sulphidation gold deposit.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pueblo Viejo Gold Mine, Dominican Republic|url=http://www.mining-technology.com/projects/pueblo-viejo-gold-mine/|publisher=mining-technology.com|access-date=28 December 2016}}</ref>

Between Bonao and Maimón, Falconbridge Dominicana has been mining nickel laterites since 1971. The Cerro de Maimon copper/gold open-pit mine southeast of Maimón has been operated by Perilya since 2006. Copper is extracted from the sulfide ores, while gold and silver are extracted from both the sulfide and the oxide ores. Processing is via froth flotation and cyanidation. The ore is located in the VMS Early Cretaceous Maimón Formation. Goethite enriched with gold and silver is found in the 30-meter thick oxide cap. Below that cap is a supergene zone containing pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite. Below the supergene zone is found the unaltered massive sulphide mineralization.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cerro de Maimon|url=http://www.perilya.com.au/our-business/operations/cerro-de-maimon|publisher=Perilya.com|access-date=28 December 2016}}</ref>

==Human development== This is a list of Dominican Republic and Haiti regions by Human Development Index as of 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hdi.globaldatalab.org/areadata/shdi/|title=Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab|website=hdi.globaldatalab.org|access-date=2018-09-13}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Rank !! Region !! 2023 HDI !! Country |- ! colspan="4" style="color:#0e0; background-color:#444;" | High human development |- |1 |Region 0 (Distrito Nacional, Santo Domingo, Monte Plata) |0.793 | rowspan="9" |Dominican Republic |- || 2 ||Region VIII (La Vega, Monseñor Nouel, Sánchez Ramírez) | 0.774 |- || 3 ||Region I (Peravia, San Cristóbal, San José de Ocoa, Azua)|| rowspan="2" | 0.771 |- || 4 ||Region III (Duarte, María Trinidad Sánchez, Hermanas Mirabal, Samaná) |- || 5 ||Region II (Espaillat, Puerto Plata, Santiago) |0.769 |- || 6 ||Region IV (Independencia, Baoruco, Barahona, Pedernales)|| 0.763 |- |7 |Region V (El Seibo, La Altagracia, La Romana, San Pedro de Macoris, Hato Mayor)|| 0.760 |- |8 |Region VII (Dajabón, Monte Cristi, Santiago Rodríguez, Valverde) |0.750 |- |9 |Region VI (San Juan, Elías Piña) |0.743 |- style="background:#e6e6e6" ! colspan="4" style="color:#fc0; background-color:#333;" | Medium human development |- || 10 ||Ouest (include Port-au-Prince metropolitan area)|| 0.584 || rowspan="2" |Haiti |- || 11 ||Nord|| 0.569 |- ! colspan="4" style="color:#900; background-color:#fff;" | Low human development |- || 12 ||Nord-Ouest|| 0.546 || rowspan="7" |Haiti |- |13 |Nord-Est |0.544 |- || 14 ||Sud|| 0.540 |- |15 |Sud-Est|| 0.533 |- |16||Grand'Anse, Nippes|| 0.525 |- |17 |Artibonite|| 0.521 |- || 18 ||Centre|| 0.506 |- |}

<gallery widths="200" heights="160" class="center"> File:View of Los Cacicazgos Area, Santo Domingo.jpg|Santo Domingo in South Metro File:SantiagoMetroDR.jpg|Santiago de los Caballeros in Cibao North File:Port au prince-haiti.JPG|Port-au-Prince in Ouest Metro File:View of Cap-Haitien.jpg|Cap Haitien in Nord </gallery>

== Notes == {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Altman, Ida. ''Life and Society in the Early Caribbean: The Greater Antilles, 1493–1550''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press 2021. {{ISBN|978-0-8071-7578-1}}. * Altman, Ida and David Wheat, eds. ''The Spanish Caribbean & the Atlantic World in the Long Sixteenth Century''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2019. * Deagan, Kathleen and José María Cruxent. ''Columbus's Outpost Among the Taínos''. New Haven: Yale University Press 2002. * Floyd, Troy S. ''The Columbus Dynasty in the Caribbean, 1492–1526''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1973. * {{cite journal |last1=Livi-Bacci |first1=Massimo |title=Return to Hispaniola: Reassessing a Demographic Catastrophe |journal=Hispanic American Historical Review |date=2003 |volume=83 |pages=3–51 |doi=10.1215/00182168-83-1-3}} * Rodríguez Morel, Genaro. "The Sugar Economy of Española in the Sixteenth Century" in ''Tropical Bablyons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World. 1450–1680'', ed. Stuart B. Schwartz. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 2004. * Sauer, Carl O. ''The Early Spanish Main''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966. * {{cite journal |last1=Tibesar |first1=Antonine S. |title=The Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross of Espan̄ola, 1505-1559 |journal=The Americas |date=1957 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=377–389 |doi=10.2307/979442 |jstor=979442 }} * Wilson, Samuel M. ''Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus''. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press 1990.

==External links== {{sister project links|d=Q25277|wikt=Hispaniola|q=no|c=Category:Hispaniola|voy=Hispaniola|b=no|v=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no|n=no|s=Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Hayti}} * [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4395 Map of the Islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico] from 1639 * [https://www.loc.gov/collections/sir-francis-drake/ The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake] at the Library of Congress contains primary materials on Hispaniola.

Category:Hispaniola Category:French West Indies Category:Freshwater ecoregions Category:Greater Antilles Category:International islands Category:Islands of Haiti Category:Islands of the Dominican Republic Category:Spanish West Indies

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