Hispaniola: geography, history, and culture

¶ … earth, as the people of the old world had come to meet the ones from the new one on the American continent. The island of Hispaniola had been the place to host the meeting between the natives and the Europeans. The people on the island had been accustomed with invaders, as numerous tribes had succeeded in raiding the island over the centuries. However, Columbus and his people were obviously different from the ones that came before them, and, the fates of the natives had been changed forever with the coming of the Europeans.

Hispaniola, the second largest island from the Antilles, received its name from Christopher Columbus at the time that he first discovered the new continent. The island had been inhabited by the American-Indians that were a result of the blending of the numerous waves of immigrants coming from all over the continent. The people believed to have witnessed Columbus's landing in America are considered to have been the Taino Indians.

As they had just begun to sail around the world, the European nation-states had reached the Caribbean Sea, where an unknown continent awaited for them. It was in 1492 when a handful of Europeans had inspired from the Portuguese to set sail in hope that they will find great fortunes. Led by Genoese Christopher Columbus, the ninety sailors initially wanted to find an alternative route that would take them to Japan. The expedition had been funded by various royalties in Spain and by the sailors themselves. No one actually knew the distance that they had to travel from Spain to Japan by sea and most presumptions had been far from the reality.

When the three ships (the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria) that left Spain eventually reached land after a month of sailing, they realized that the territory they discovered had been nothing as what they believed it would be. Instead of the great kingdoms described by various European travelers that journeyed East, Columbus found a great number of tropical islands inhabited by people that no one had ever seen or heard of before.

The European sailors originally mistook the natives for Indians, as they believed that they had reached India instead of Japan. The respective mistake had actually been one of the greatest discoveries in the history of mankind. The so-called Indians were spread across the archipelago, inhabiting most islands there. While most documents relate to the early American-Indians as behaving primitive and being savages, the reality had been different. "In the five hundred years before the European explorers' arrival, elaborate and complex social and political institutions had developed in the Caribbean societies, especially in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola" (Wilson, pp. 2) Most people believe that the political and social advancements experienced by the people inhabiting Hispaniola had been brought from inside the continent, from the great civilizations. In reality, the natives living on the Hispaniola had actually developed their culture in the Caribbean.

The people on Hispaniola called themselves Taino, which translates as either "good," "noble," or "prudent." As the Europeans came on the island, the locals welcomed them with numerous gifts, proving to be peaceful and hospitable. Spanish chroniclers have also confirmed the peaceful nature that the locals had, as they claimed that the Taino Indians never engaged in arguments between themselves. Despite the fact that there is a lot of controversy concerning the number of people living on the island at the time when Columbus landed, recent estimates point to several million Taino living on Hispaniola around 1500.

Before encountering the island of Hispaniola, Columbus visited several other islands, but, none of them presented any value to the Spaniards. In contrast, the island of Hispaniola seemed to be the perfect place to colonize and to exploit. The fact that its inhabitants had been generous and naive led the Spanish in believing that they had been easier to conquer and to subject. Columbus himself had been amazed of the island's potential and of the kindness of its inhabitants. Consequent to his arrival on the island on the 5th of December, 1492, Columbus spent the next days meeting several of the island's chieftains and exchanging presents with the locals. However, being anxious to let the rest of the world know about his discovery, he had been determined to leave as soon as he could, in order to return with an even bigger crew that could carry more riches from the newly discovered land.

After an unfortunate chain of events, Santa Maria became stranded on a sand bank and the ship was rendered motionless, with no chance for it to be recovered. All of the valuables on the ship had been saved rapidly with the help of the locals. Seeing that fate had acted against them, and being aware that he could not take all of his men back to Spain, Columbus decided to establish a colony on the island. Thirty-eight of Columbus's men remained in the settlement called Navidad, hoping that they would accumulate great fortunes during their stay on the island. The colony had been surrounded by a fort built from Santa Maria's timbers, in spite of the fact that Columbus had been certain that it would have no actual use.

Finally, on the 4th of January, Columbus took what had remained of his men and left the island of Hispaniola. Subsequent to his departure, the Spaniards on the islands proved that they did not posses diplomatic abilities as they fought each-other and mistreated the locals. They had not managed to gather gold in great amounts, since they spent most of their time slugging and enjoying the hospitality of their hosts.

The colony of Navidad had been the opposite of what Columbus intended it to be, with the colonists altering the diplomatic relations with the locals and refraining from looking for gold. After several instances in which the colonists have shown their disrespect towards the locals, the latter had decided that they would no longer withstand being humiliated. As a result, the colony of Navidad had been destroyed, and, all of the thirty eight settlers living there had been murdered by the natives.

Returning in November 1493 to find his colony destroyed, Columbus decided not to act against the locals, given that he had more important actions to perform. As he had brought a large fleet, he immediately began to search for a proper place for a colony to be established. The territory chosen to hold the first Euro-American city had been approximately one hundred kilometers from the ruins at Navidad. Wanting to please the Spanish king and queen, Columbus named the town Isabela. In spite of the fact that the town's grounds would presumably be fertile and welcoming for the Europeans, it proved to be opposite to that. It did not take long before the Spanish had finished all of their supplies and started to eat local food. The island's food proved to be unhealthy for them and disease spread all over the camp forcing a great number of Columbus's men to stay in bed. Columbus never seemed like he had really been interested in something else rather than finding gold. The town itself had been built on unfertile terrain because Columbus believed that gold sources had been near it. Moreover, he still dreamed about the great riches that the Asian continent held, and about how he had been supposed to discover them. In search of an even greater glory, he set sail from Isabela towards the west, where he hoped to find Asia. His journey would only bring him more despair and disappointment, as he did not find the Asian continent and he returned to see most of his men suffering.

Seeing that the situation was desperate and that his men had been demoralized, Columbus organized a series of campaigns with the intention of scaring the locals into submission. Determined to accomplishing their goals, the Spaniards did not pay attention to the suffering that they provoked as they swept through the island. Despite of the fact that they did not initially understand that the Europeans had only been interested in riches, the Taino Indians later realized that the invaders had been their enemies.

Being motivated by the performances undergone by the Spaniards during the previous years, the Taino Indians had organized themselves in hope that they would succeed in defeating the invaders. The first campaigns against the Spaniards had not been effective, with the Taino Indians having little to no success at waging war against the more advanced Spanish forces. Numerous Taino leaders have perished as a result of the fighting and the Taino political system has been seriously shaken. In the later rebellions that the Taino Indians had organized, matters became even worse, as their military force had been seriously affected by the diseases that the Europeans had brought and by the earlier battles.

There is a lot of controversy revolving around the number of Taino Indians that have perished in the years following the coming of the Europeans. There are sources claiming that the population of natives had fallen from several million to several tens of thousands. The sources cannot be verified in the present, since there are no notable documents to confirm either assumption. What is certain is that the Taino population from Hispaniola had been severely diminished as a result on their interaction with the Europeans.

While Columbus continued to visit the Caribbean in hope that he would find the famous kingdoms that he have heard about, his brother Bartolome became governor of the island. Still, similar to his brother, Bartolome did not seem to control the situation, as no major advancements have been performed during his governing. One of the biggest mistakes that the Europeans had done during their first years on Hispaniola had been that they did not want their community to have anything to do to the native one. The locals had not been accustomed to harvesting large cultures that would last over the year, and, because of lack of supplies, both the natives and the Europeans have come across a period of famine. Because of the fact that his men were virtually starving, Bartolome had started to perceive food as important as gold. Instead of giving gold as tribute to the Spaniards, some of the Taino leaders had been requested to give food and other resources.

Being aware that it would not take long before the port of Isabela would turn into ruins because of the poor terrain, Bartolome founded the port of Santo Domingo in 1496.

The positioning for the port had been set on the southern coast of Hispaniola. The location had been much better than Isabela's location, and, the port of Santo Domingo soon brought happiness among the Spaniards.

The brothers Christopher and Bartolome Columbus had managed to reign over the island for a few years. However, they had not succeeded in imposing their power over it, and, both the colony at Navidad and the one at Isabela proved to be worthless. It had also been reported that one of the main reasons for which the brothers were considered unfit for ruling the colony had been that they were Italian. Jealous on the success that the brothers have had, and unwilling to allow themselves as Spaniards to be governed by Italians, the colonists came up with numerous false accusations which made the Queen of Spain bring the brothers back in chains. However, it became obvious for Queen Isabela that the allegations were false and that the Columbus brothers did not deserve to be punished.

All in all, the colonies did not perform well under the leadership of the Columbus brothers for a series of reasons ranging from inexperienced management to inadequate terrains for settlements to be placed on them.

Disappointed after having seen that their dreams were gradually destroyed, the colonists considered that the only ones to blame for their misfortunes had been the Columbus brothers. The fact that the colonists were no longer willing to put up with the Columbus leaderships had materialized into a group demanding the replacement of the Columbus brothers with qualified leaders that would be better in dealing with the situation.

Wanting to resolve the state of crisis existing in Hispaniola, the queen of Spain decided to put Francisco de Bobadilla in charge of the situation as governor. Great changes in better were believed to take place with the new governor in charge, and, hope seemed to have returned among the colonists. However, in spite of the better ruling abilities that the new governor had, "he was still unable to satisfy the crown with the collection of the "royal fifth.." (Wilson, pp. 133) Queen Isabela removed Bobadilla from his position as she found that he had been partly responsible for spreading the false rumors concerning the brothers Columbus.

The first authoritarian governor to rule the island of Hispaniola had been Nicolas de Ovando, who had been sent by the queen of Spain to remove Francisco de Bobadilla from power and to replace him. Unlike his predecessors, Ovando had actually been an exceptional soldier and had had a lot of experience with the military. This had been confirmed from the very first days of his ruling when significant modifications took place in the colony. The governor brutally oppressed anyone that seemed like a potential enemy of the Crown.

Presumably wanting to strengthen the relationship between the most influent of the Taino leaders and him, Ovando had organized a feast in which the Europeans and the Taino Indians were supposed to celebrate the new governor. However, the governor had had other plans in his mind than to become friend with the locals. Determined to impose his power over the Taino Indians, he gathered all of the leaders from Hispaniola in a hut. The natives were later surrounded by Spanish forces and the hut had been set on fire. With the apparent intention of giving the Taino queen an honorable death, Ovando hanged her.

It is difficult to imagine how the so-called civilized people had ruthlessly murdered the ones that were considered to be savages.

The Taino population on Hispaniola had no chance of fighting the Spanish, since they had little experience in performing warfare and they had not been well organized. The Europeans had consumed most of the food available on the island leaving the locals to starve. Also, the diseases brought from Europe proved to be fatal for a great number of natives, in view of the fact that they had no immunity to the maladies. Strong-minded on making profits from the island, the Spaniards began to exploit the labor force of the Taino Indians. This only hurried the decimating of the island's population of natives.

Observing that the gold resources on the island were beginning to decrease, the Spanish turned their attention to the mainland. Being a former colonist on the island, Hernan Cortez had succeeded in conquering Mexico and the great riches that it held. The only ones to remain on the island had been a few thousand people that were half Spanish and half Taino. Having lost most of their culture, the locals had started to raise livestock which they gave to the Spanish ships passing by.

The profits that the Spanish made from the Hispaniola disappeared along with the Taino civilization. Being unwilling to work and with the Taino population being diminished, the colonists started to bring African slaves in great numbers to the point that the island contained more black people than it contained whites or Taino Indians.

The Spanish government had repeatedly attempted to stop the colonists from trading with pirates and ruthlessly fought anyone that disobeyed their orders. The few isolate groups that have dared to stand against the Crown had been rapidly silenced and the whole northern coast of Hispaniola had been evacuated, with its inhabitants being taken south to Santo Domingo.

The French took advantage of the situation and settled colonists on the northwestern side of Hispaniola. "The western third of Hispaniola became a French possession called Saint Domingue in 1697, and over the next century developed into what became, by far, one of the richest colonies in the world." (Guitar) The French imported large numbers of African slaves with the intention of mass planting and harvesting sugar cane.

The fact that most of the people on the island had been slaves meant that the French had had a hard time controlling their subjects and imposing their authority. The slaves had also been aware of this, and, with Pierre Dominique Toussaint leading them, they organized a rebellion in 1791 against the French. With the intention of keeping the island, the French abolished slavery on its territory. Being aware of the conditions in Santo Domingo and seeing the success that Saint Dominique had, the Spanish government settled on abandoning the colony and leaving the island to the French in 1795. Shortly after, the French government placed Toussaint in charge of the island as its governor. The few Spanish remaining in Santo Domingo were unwilling to release their slaves because of the large profits that they made. In response to their reluctance, Toussaint gathered his army and freed all of the slaves in Santo Domingo, chasing the Spanish away.

Napoleon Bonaparte, the king of France during the time, had come to the conclusion that it had been vital for the French to conquer Hispaniola once again. He had been motivated by the complaints coming from the former French land owners and by the fact that he did not appreciate having a black man ruling over his precious colony. The expedition intended to bring Hispaniola back to the French had failed under the leadership of General Leclerc. Encouraged by their success, the rebels established the Republic of Haiti in western Hispaniola, under the leadership of Jean Jacques Dessalines in 1804. The Spanish attempted to regain control of the island in 1809 with the help of the French, but they had been suppressed by the Haitians that integrated Santo Domingo into their Republic in 1822.