Hispaniola 13714 226013579 2008-07-16T13:10:59Z Bender235 88026 /* History */ better version {{Infobox Islands | name = Hispaniola | image name = Hispaniola lrg.jpg | image caption = Topographic map of Hispaniola | nickname = | location = [[Caribbean Sea]] | coordinates = | archipelago = [[Antilles]] | total islands = | major islands = [[Gonâve Island|Île de la Gonâve]], [[Tortuga]], [[Île à Vache]], [[Saona Island|Isla Saona]] | area = {{convert|76480|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on}} | highest mount = [[Pico Duarte]] | elevation = 3,098 m (10,164 ft) | country = Haiti | country admin divisions title = | country admin divisions = | country admin divisions title 1 = | country admin divisions 1 = | country admin divisions title 2 = | country admin divisions 2 = | country capital city = | country largest city = [[Port-au-Prince]] | country largest city population = | country leader title = | country leader name = | country 1 = Dominican Republic | country 1 admin divisions title = | country 1 admin divisions = | country 1 capital city = | country 1 largest city = [[Santo Domingo]] | country 1 largest city population = | country 1 leader title = | country 1 leader name = | country 2 = | country 2 admin divisions title = | country 2 admin divisions = | country 2 capital city = | country 2 largest city = | country 2 largest city population = | country 2 leader title = | country 2 leader name = | population = 18,466,497 | population as of = 2005 est. | density = 241.5 | ethnic groups = | additional info = }} '''Hispaniola''' (from [[Spanish language|Spanish]], ''La Española'') is the second-largest and most populous [[island]] of the [[Antilles]], lying between the islands of [[Cuba]] to the west, and [[Puerto Rico]] to the east. It is located directly within the [[hurricane belt]]. The [[Haiti|Republic of Haiti]] occupies the western third and the [[Dominican Republic]] the eastern two-thirds of the island. [[Christopher Columbus]] arrived in Hispaniola (present day Haiti) on [[December 5]], [[1492]], and on his second voyage in 1493 founded the first [[Spain|Spanish]] [[colony]] (present day Dominican Republic) in the [[New World]] on it. == Names of the island == [[Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés|Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo]] and [[Bartolomé de las Casas]] documented that the island was called ''Haití'' ("Mountainous Land") by the [[Taíno]] inhabitants. [[Peter Martyr d'Anghiera]] added another name, ''Quizqueia'' (now "Quisqueya").<ref name="anghiera">{{cite book | last = Anglería | first = Pedro Mártir de | title = Décadas del Nuevo Mundo, Tercera Década, Libro VII | publisher = Editorial Bajel | date = 1949 | location = Buenos Aires | language = Spanish }}</ref> The term "Quizqueia" had been used only by d'Anghiera and the word has been verified to not have derived from the [[Arawak]] language. Although Haití was the Taíno name used by all three historians, it seems that it was not the Taíno name of the whole island. Haití was the Taíno name of a region in what is now the northeastern section of present day Dominican Republic (now known as ''Los Haitises''). In the oldest map of the island, made by Andrés de Morales, that region is named ''Montes de Haití'' ("Haiti Mountains"). Las Casas wrote that the whole island took the name from that region;<ref name="casas">{{cite book | last = Las Casas | first = Fray Bartolomé de | title = Apologética Histórica Sumaria | publisher = UNAM | date = 1966 | location = Mexico | language = Spanish }}</ref> d'Anghiera said that the name of one part was given to the whole island.<ref name="anghiera" />. The three historians wrote always ''Haití'' because at that time they didn't use the letter "J" (just like Haina - Jaina), and the last "i" was stressed.<ref name="casas" />. ''Ayiti'' is the [[Haitian Creole]] version of the word. When Columbus took possession of the island, he named it as ''La Española'', meaning "The Spanish (Island)". When d'Anghiera wrote in [[Latin]] about this island, he translated the name as ''Hispaniola'', a new word. Because Anghiera's literary work was translated into [[English language|English]] and [[French language|French]] in a short period of time, the name "Hispaniola" is the most frequently used term in English-speaking countries regarding the island in scientific and cartographic works. The terms ''Saint-Domingue'' and ''Santo Domingo'' are sometimes still applied when referring to the whole island when both names factually refer to their respective countries. <center> {|class=wikitable |- ! country ! [[population]]<br>(2005 est.) ! [[area]]<br>([[Square kilometre|km²]]) ! [[area]]<br>([[Percentage|%]]) ! [[population density|density]]<br>(pop. per [[Square kilometre|km²]]) |- ||[[Haiti]] | align=right|8,706,497 | align=right|27,750 | align=right|36.3 | align=right|313.7 |- ||[[Dominican Republic]] | align=right|9,760,000 | align=right|48,730 | align=right|63.7 | align=right|200.3 |} </center> ==History== {{seealso|Colony of Santo Domingo}} {{seealso|History of the Dominican Republic}} {{seealso|History of Haiti}} [[Christopher Columbus]] arrived on the island during his first voyage to [[Americas|America]] in 1492. During his arrival he founded the settlement of [[La Navidad]] on the north coast of present day [[Haiti]]. On his return the subsequent year, following the disbandment of La Navidad, Columbus quickly founded a second settlement farther east in present day [[Dominican Republic]], [[La Isabela]], which became the first permanent European settlement in the Americas. [[Image:15thcenturyhispaniola v2.JPG|thumb|Early map of Hispaniola]] The island was inhabited by the [[Tainos]], one of the indigenous [[Arawak]] peoples. The Taino were at first tolerant of Columbus and his crew, and helped him to construct [[La Navidad]] on what is now [[Môle Saint-Nicolas]], Haiti, in [[December]] [[1492]]. European colonization of the island began earnestly the following year, when 1,300 men arrived from [[Spain]] under the watch of [[Bartolomeo Columbus]]. In [[1496]] the town of ''Nueva Isabela'' was founded. After being destroyed by a [[hurricane]], it was rebuilt on the opposite side of the Ozama River and called [[Santo Domingo]]. It is the oldest permanent European settlement in [[the Americas]]. The [[Taino]] population of the island was rapidly decimated, owing to a combination of disease and harsh treatment by Spanish overlords. In [[1501]], the colony began to import [[African]] [[slaves]], believing them more capable of performing physical labor. As Spain conquered new regions on the mainland of the Americas, its interest in Hispaniola waned, and the colony's population grew slowly. By the early 17th century, the island and its smaller neighbors (notably [[Tortuga]]) became regular stopping points for [[Piracy in the Caribbean|Caribbean pirates]]. In [[1606]], the [[king]] of Spain ordered all inhabitants of Hispaniola to move close to Santo Domingo, to avoid interaction with pirates. Rather than secure the island, however, this resulted in French, English and Dutch pirates establishing bases on the now-abandoned north and west coasts of the island. In [[1665]], French colonization of the island was officially recognized by [[Louis XIV|King Louis XIV]]. The French colony was given the name [[Saint-Domingue]]. In the [[1697]] [[Treaty of Ryswick (Haiti)|Treaty of Ryswick]], Spain formally ceded the western third of the island to [[France]]. Saint-Domingue quickly came to overshadow the east in both [[wealth]] and [[population]]. Nicknamed the "Pearl of the Antilles," it became the richest and most prosperous colony in the West Indies and one of the wealthiest in the world, cementing its status as the most important port in the Americas for goods and products flowing to and from Europe. ==Geography== Hispaniola is the second-largest island in the [[Caribbean]] (after [[Cuba]]), with an area of 76,480 km². The island of Cuba lies 80 km to the northwest across the [[Windward Passage]]; to the southwest lies [[Jamaica]], separated by the [[Jamaica Channel]]. [[Puerto Rico]] lies east of Hispaniola across the [[Mona Passage]]. The [[Bahamas]] and [[Turks and Caicos Islands]] lie to the north. Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico are collectively known as the [[Greater Antilles]]. The Greater Antilles are made up of [[continent]]al rock, as distinct from the [[Lesser Antilles]], which are mostly young [[volcano|volcanic]] or coral islands. The island has five major mountain ranges: 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 3,087 meters (10,128 ft) above [[sea level]]. 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. 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 southern range begins in the southwestern most 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 and the second highest peak in the Antilles and consequently the highest point in Haiti, at 2,680 meters (8,793 ft) 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 salty lakes, including [[Etang Saumâtre|Lake Azuei]] in Haiti and [[Lake Enriquillo]] in the Dominican Republic. ==Ecology== The climate of Hispaniola is generally [[humid]] and [[tropical]]. The island has four distinct [[ecoregion]]s. 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 2100 meters 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 850 meters elevation. The [[Enriquillo wetlands]] are a [[flooded grasslands and savannas]] ecoregion that surround a chain of lakes and lagoons that includes [[Lake Enriquillo]], [[Rincón Lagoon]], and [[Lake Caballero]] in the Dominican Republic and [[Etang Saumatre|Lake Azuei]] and [[Trou Caïman]] in Haiti. ==See also== *[[Geography of Haiti]] *[[Geography of the Dominican Republic]] ==References== {{reflist|2}} ==External links== {{wiktionary}} *[http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=18.907471,-71.191406&spn=5.218506,8.107910&t=k&hl=en Google maps] {{coor title dm|19|00|N|70|40|W|}} [[Category:Divided regions]] [[Category:Greater Antilles]] [[Category:Islands of Haiti]] [[Category:Islands of the Dominican Republic]] [[ar:هسبانيولا]] [[zh-min-nan:Sió-se-pan-gâ]] [[bs:Hispaniola]] [[ca:Hispaniola]] [[cs:Hispaniola]] [[da:Hispaniola]] [[de:Hispaniola]] [[et:Haiti saar]] [[es:La Española]] [[eo:Hispaniolo]] [[eu:Hispaniola]] [[fa:هیسپانیولا]] [[fr:Hispaniola]] [[ga:An Easpáinneoil]] [[gd:Hispaniola]] [[gl:A Española]] [[ko:이스파니올라 섬]] [[hr:Hispaniola]] [[id:Hispaniola]] [[ia:Hispaniola]] [[is:Hispaníóla]] [[it:Hispaniola]] [[he:היספניולה]] [[ka:ჰაიტი (კუნძული)]] [[sw:Hispaniola]] [[ht:Ispayola]] [[la:Hispaniola]] [[lt:Haitis (sala)]] [[mr:हिस्पॅनियोला]] [[nl:Hispaniola]] [[ja:イスパニョーラ島]] [[no:Hispaniola]] [[oc:Haití (illa)]] [[pl:Haiti (wyspa)]] [[pt:Ilha de São Domingos]] [[ksh:Hispaniola]] [[ro:Hispaniola]] [[qu:Ayti wat'a]] [[ru:Гаити (остров)]] [[simple:Hispaniola]] [[sk:Haiti (ostrov)]] [[sl:Hispaniola]] [[sh:Hispaniola]] [[fi:Hispaniola]] [[sv:Hispaniola]] [[th:เกาะฮิสปันโยลา]] [[tr:Hispanyola]] [[uk:Гаїті (острів)]] [[ur:ہسپانیولا]] [[yi:היספאניאלא]] [[zh:伊斯帕尼奥拉岛]]