Editing Hispaniola (section)

===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
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|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}}