Editing Hispaniola (section)

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

===Pre-Columbian===
{{see also|Taíno|Arawak}}
{{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, Dominican Republic|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 [[Island Carib|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 of the ancestors of the Taino people on Hispaniola is the Ostionoid culture, 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 on the island was a small independent kingdom with a lead 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, there were five different kingdoms on 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 journal|last=Berman|first=Mary|date=2008|title=The Greater Antilles and Bahamas|url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/estarch/the_greater_antilles_and_bahamas/0|journal=Encyclopedia of Archaeology|doi=10.1016/B978-012373962-9.00391-5|via=Credo}}</ref> There is still heated debate over the population of Taíno people on the island of Hispaniola 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|url= |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 |url= |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" /> The indigenous people of Hispaniola 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 [[Kalinago|Caribs]], another indigenous tribe.<ref name="Corbett" /> The Taíno people had to defend themselves using 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|Christopher Columbus|History of Haiti|History of the Dominican Republic|Page 4=}}
[[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 in a friendly fashion by the indigenous people known as the Taíno. Trading with the natives 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. Before he could explore further, his flagship, the ''[[Santa Maria (ship)|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 killed by the natives. Columbus decided to sail east in search of a better site to found a new 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>

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

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/526|title=Colonial City of Santo Domingo|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=whc.unesco.org|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 ''[[conquistador]]s'' of the [[Spanish Empire]], serving as a headquarters for the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|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 [[Slavery in colonial Spanish America|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 [[Atlantic slave trade|began to bring enslaved Africans]] after a charter was passed in 1501, allowing the import of African slaves by Ferdinand and Isabel. The Spanish believed Africans would be more capable of performing physical labor. From 1519 to 1533, the indigenous uprising known as [[Enriquillo]]'s Revolt, after the Taíno cacique who led them, ensued, resulting from escaped African slaves on the island ([[maroons]]) possibly working 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>

Precious metals played a large role in the history of the island after Columbus's arrival. One of the first inhabitants Columbus came across on this island was "a girl wearing only a gold nose plug". Soon the Taínos were trading pieces of gold for hawk's bells<ref name="smithsonianmag-140132422"/> 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>

{{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 [[Museo de las Casas Reales|Museum of the Royal Houses]].}}

On Columbus's return during his second voyage, he learned it was the chief [[Caonabo]] who had massacred his settlement at Navidad. While Columbus established a new settlement the village of [[La Isabela]] on Jan. 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 himself visited the mines of Cibao on 12 March 1494. 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}} On 24 March 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 [[encomienda|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">{{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 (magazine)|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><ref name=Ferdinand/>{{rp|149–150}}

===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 nugget]]s on the lower [[Haina River]] in 1496. These San Cristobal mines were later known as the Minas Viejas mines. Then, 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, Dominican Republic|San Cristobal]]-Buenaventura, and another in Cibao within the [[La Vega, Dominican Republic|La Vega]]-Cotuy-[[Bonao]] triangle, while [[Santiago de los Caballeros]], [[La Vega, Dominican Republic|Concepción]], and Bonao became mining towns. The gold rush of 1500–1508 ensued, and Ovando expropriated the gold mines of Miguel Díaz and Francisco de Garay in 1504, as pit mines became royal mines for [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], who reserved the best mines for himself, though [[placer mining|placers]] were open to private prospectors. King 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 the royal governor [[Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres|Nicolás de 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}}</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&nbsp;pages, p. 86, {{ISBN|978-0-87286-323-1}}
* Sheri P. Rosenberg, "Genocide Is a Process, Not an Event", ''[[Genocide Studies and Prevention]]'' 7, 1 (April 2012): 16–23. © 2012 doi: 10.3138/gsp.7.1.16
* [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15283480701326034 David Moshman (2007) Us and Them: Identity and Genocide, Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 7:2, p. 125, DOI: 10.1080/15283480701326034],
* Alexander Laban Hinton, "Critical Genocide Studies", ''Genocide Studies and Prevention'' 7, 1 (April 2012): 4–15. © 2012. doi: 10.3138/gsp.7.1.4, p. 11
* Keegan, William F., "Destruction of the Taino" in ''[[Archaeology (magazine)|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 to Hispaniola 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 [[1521 Santo Domingo Slave Revolt|first major slave revolt in the Americas]] occurred in [[Santo Domingo]] during 1521, when enslaved [[Muslims]] of the [[Wolof people|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 [[maroons|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]], more strategically located in relation to the [[Gulf Stream]], was selected as the designated stopping point for the merchant ''[[flota system|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===
[[File:The Devastations of Osorio.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|The main cities and towns of the Spanish in the early 1600s.]]
[[File:Spanish Caribbean Islands in the American Viceroyalties 1600.png|thumb|Spanish Caribbean Islands in the American Viceroyalties in the 1600s.]]

By the early 17th century, Hispaniola and its nearby islands (notably [[Tortuga (Haiti)|Tortuga]]) became regular stopping points for [[Piracy in the Caribbean|Caribbean pirates]]. In 1606, the government of [[Philip III of Spain|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 people|French]] and English pirates arrived on the island of [[Tortuga (Haiti)|Tortuga]], just off the northwest coast of Hispaniola, which was originally settled by a few Spanish colonists. The pirates were attacked in 1629 by Spanish forces commanded by [[Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 1st Marquis of Villanueva de Valdueza|Don Fadrique de Toledo]], who 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 constant battles for several decades. In 1654, the Spanish [[Capture of Fort Rocher|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 (Haiti)|Tortuga island]]) made Hispaniola a center of pirate activity in the 17th century.]]

In 1655 the island of 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&nbsp;XIV]]. The French colony was given the name [[Saint-Domingue]]. By 1670 a Welsh privateer named [[Henry Morgan]] invited the pirates on the island of 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 the mainland of Hispaniola in 1676.

In 1680, new Acts of [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] forbade [[sailing]] under foreign [[flag]]s (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 [[First French Republic|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 [[Peace of Basel|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 [[Law of 20 May 1802|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|Jean Jacques Dessalines]] tried to conquer all of Hispaniola. He launched an [[Siege of Santo Domingo (1805)|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 [[Spanish reconquest of Santo Domingo|second revolution]] against France broke out on the island. Following Napoleon's invasion of Spain, the [[Criollo people|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, [[Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo|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 [[Annexation of the Dominican Republic to Spain|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 [[Six Years' War|were ousted in an uprising in 1874]]. Both states have remained independent states since then.

===20th century to represent: 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 [[United States occupation of Haiti|1915]], and the Dominican Republic in [[Military Government of Santo Domingo|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, (though political chaos ensued triggering a [[Dominican Civil War|bloody revolution]] and a second U.S intervention in 1965), and the death of François Duvalier and [[Anti-Duvalier protest movement|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. While the Dominican Republic was able to stabilize the political crisis that plagued the country since its conception since 1844, Haiti's political crisis continued to destabilize. The political chaos that erupted following the overthrow of Aristide in 2004 caused a [[United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti|mass intervention by the U.N.]], which lasted until 2017. Even by that point, Haiti had already [[2010 Haiti earthquake|suffered a massive catastrophic earthquake in 2010]], [[2010s Haiti cholera outbreak|cholera outbreaks]] continued, and gang violence had escalated further, [[Gang war in Haiti|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]].