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Concept
Hispaniola
Summary
Hispaniola (ˌhɪspənˈjoʊlə, also UK-pænˈ-; La Española; Latin and Hispaniola; Ispayola; Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles and Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the region's second largest in area, after the island of Cuba.
The island is divided into two separate nations: the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic (48,445 km2, 18,705 sq mi) to the east and the French/Haitian Creole-speaking Haiti (27,750 km2, 10,710 sq mi) to the west. The only other divided island in the Caribbean is Saint Martin, which is shared between France (Saint Martin) and the Netherlands (Sint Maarten).
Hispaniola is the site of one of the first European fort in the Americas, La Navidad (1492–1493), as well as the first settlement and proper town, La Isabela (1493–1500), and the first permanent settlement, the current capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo (est. 1498). These settlements were founded successively during each of Christopher Columbus's first three voyages.
The Spanish Empire controlled the entire island of Hispaniola from the 1490s until the 17th century, when French pirates began establishing bases on the western side of the island. The official name was La Española, meaning "The Spanish (Island)". It was also called Santo Domingo, after Saint Dominic.
The island was called by various names by its native people, the Taíno. The Taino had no written language, hence, historical evidence for these names comes through three European historians: the Italian Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, and the Spaniards Bartolomé de las Casas and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo. Based on a comprehensive survey and map prepared by Andrés de Morales in 1508, Martyr reported that the island as a whole was called Quizquella (or Quisqueya) and Haiti referred to a rugged mountainous region on the eastern end of the island. Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus's second voyage, also noted that Haiti was the easternmost province of the island.
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