Hispaniola

Examples of Hispaniola in the following topics:

• The Rise of the African Slave Trade

  • The Spanish were the first Europeans to use enslaved Africans in the New World on islands such as Cuba and Hispaniola.
  • The alarming death rate experienced by the indigenous population had spurred the first royal Spanish laws protecting them, and consequently, the first enslaved Africans arrived in Hispaniola in 1501.

• Disease in the New World

  • Before the arrival of Columbus in Hispaniola, the indigenous Taíno pre-contact population of several hundred thousand declined to 60,000 by 1509.

• The Exploration of Christopher Columbus

  • On August 19, 1498, Columbus returned from South America to Hispaniola to find that many of the Spanish settlers of the new colony were discontent, having been misled by Columbus about the supposedly bountiful riches of the New World.
  • He left for Hispaniola on April 16, but sustained more damage in a storm off the coast of Cuba.

• The French Empire

  • A major French settlement lay on the island of Hispaniola, where France established the colony of Saint-Domingue on the western third of the island in 1664.

• Exploration and Conquest of the New World

  • A major French settlement lay on the island of Hispaniola, where France established the colony of Saint-Domingue on the western third of the island in 1664.

• The Expansion of Europe

  • During this voyage, Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba and the northern coast of Hispaniola, where he established the settlement of La Navidad.