Hispaniola or la Espanola, named by Christopher Columbus after his landing in 1492, is one of the largest island lying in the Caribbean Sea. The island is divided politically into the Dominican Republic and Haiti. One island, barely a barrier and yet, two completely different cultures and two completely different nations. The island was divided as a result of colonization. While the French colonized the west part of the island, what is today known as Haiti, and the Spanish colonized the east part of the island and what is today known as the Dominican Republic. As a result of those two different colonizations by two completely different nations with different cultures, Haiti and the Dominican Republic became two nations. However, for two nations on the same island with similar ancestry and a similar history, the Dominican Republic and Haiti are in a position where they could help each other if they were ever a time help was needed. That is not the case. After colonization and they fought for their freedoms, the history between the two nations turned bitter. Therefore, the political relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is a tense affair between two embittered nations occupying one island. As it is, the Dominican Republic became independent in 1844, forty years after Haiti. Unlike Haiti, the Dominican Republic was colonized by the Spaniards. Given the fact that Haiti gained its independence before the Dominican Republic, most of the nation wanted to stay as
The Dominican Republic is situated on the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The remaining one third of the Island belongs to the country of Haiti. While it is not the intent of this essay to discuss the complete history of the country, it is important to mention that the Haitian side of the island was colonized by France while the Dominican side was colonized by Spain. The Spanish oppressed the indigenous native population that was on the island for a long time and after three centuries of occupation by the Spanish, the Dominican Republic
Columbus and de la Casas make two very different observations of the new world. Columbus made many detailed descriptions in his letter to the King Ferdinand, who had financed his journey with the intentions of completing three very clear goals. The first, “to procure riches for the Spanish empire,” the second, “to find a new route to the East Indies,” and lastly, “to convert native peoples to Christianity (Casper et al., 4).” de la Casas had a much different intention than Columbus for why he journeyed to the new world. He traveled as a son of a poor merchant and observed all of the wrong doings that were happening to the native people. He later returned to Spain for the remainder of his life to write about all of the awful things that
Christopher Columbus and Alvez Nunez Cabeza de Vaca were both explorers for Spain, but under different rulers and different times. The more famous, Christopher Columbus, came before de Vaca’s time. Columbus sailed a series of four voyages between 1492 and 1504 in search for a route to Asia which led accidentally to his discovery of new land inhabited with Indians. Christopher sailed under the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella for his journey to the “Indies,” whom he was loyal to by claiming everything in their name. De Vaca , followed in Christopher’s footsteps and journeyed to Hispanionola for Spain’s emperor, Charlves V, the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella. Both, Columbus and de Vaca composed a series of letters addressing the
The Journal of Christopher Columbus is the day to day journal/diary writing of Christopher Columbus. He started taking notes of his journey starting the year of 1492. This took place mostly on his voyage over the Atlantic Ocean on his way to the Indies, and also on the lands he discovers on the way to his destination. He wrote every day of his journeys as a journal to the king and queen of his discoveries.
In the age just before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, there was abundant life, lifestyles, and necessities that sustained that. In the 1500s, Europe was as tense as ever. Kings and popes raise armies to fight against one another. The population capacity of Europe at this time was around one hundred million people. At this point, Isabella, the Queen of Spain, is the most powerful woman in Europe as well.
Decena, Fatima as well as from speaking to people from CENIFE and to people from the hostel that I stayed at and from the streets of where I visited in the Dominican Republic-from Santo Domingo to Boca Chica. This fascinating history goes something like this: The Dominican Republic became a nation on February 27, 1844 when a group of revolutionaries seized power from the Haitian rulers of the island of Hispaniola. When Christopher Columbus first discovered the island in 1492, he named it La Isla Española, which became Hispaniola. The city of Santo Domingo became the Spanish capital of the New World, and because of its location it was the gateway to the Caribbean. France gained some Hispaniola real estate on the western end of the island, which became prosperous, and by 1795 Spain yielded the entire island to France. By 1804 the black African slaves in the western portion of the island, which is now Haiti, rebelled against the French and took over and ruled the entire island. French troops eventually took back control of the island, and they were able to occupy only the western end of this island. In 1838 a small group of Spanish-speaking Dominican intellectuals from Santo Domingo organized a secret society called La Trinitaria to overthrow the Haitian rule. The society was established by Juan Pablo Duarte, and after the overthrow of the Haitian rule, Pedro Santana, one of the leaders in the revolution, became the first president of the Dominican
It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory
The first instance of colonialism forced upon the inhabitants of the Dominican Republic was the “discovery” by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492. Ernesto Sagas and Orlando Inoa presented the interaction in their book The Dominican People: A Documentary History. The confrontation between these two diametrically opposed cultures proved to be “far from equal; the Amerindians’ Stone Age culture was no match for European military technology. The initial encounter took place on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, part of which is now the Dominican Republic” (Inoa pg. 1). This was the first step in a trek through five and a half centuries of Dominican Republic history, and unfortunately much of it was filled with
In the 16th century Spaniards Herman Cortes and Christopher Columbus set out on endeavoring journeys in search of new worlds. Christopher Columbus encountered, in the Caribbean islands, a group of extremely simplistic Native Americans. Herman Cortes however encountered a much more advanced Native American group in Meso America; we formally know this area to be Mexico. In my essay I will be comparing and contrasting several aspects between both of these Native American Civilizations including sophistication, technology, housing, weapons, religion and their reaction to the Spaniards. Letters written by Columbus and Cortes will be used to make these comparisons.
The history of the colonization of Americas is one written in blood. The Hispaniola is no exception, and the conflict can still be seen today. In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west. In doing so, he
This physical border is only one indication of the clear contrast between the two countries that share Hispaniola. According
Because the Indians and Spanish lived in different areas in Latin America, the Indian culture and society did not change significantly. Or did there society change?
In order to understand the current situation of these two countries it is important to look back, to their history, from the beginning of the colonial period. From when Christopher Columbus "discovered" the New World in 1492. He named the island of Hayti Hispaniola – Little Spain. The Spaniards soon after discovering the island, established themselves permanently on Hispaniola, building the city of Santo Domingo. in 1521, Hernan Cortes had discovered Mexico, and Pizarro was overrunning Peru, both of these colonies were rich in gold and silver. By 1548, the Indian population had been reduced and the reserves of gold in the colony were declining. This made Santo Domingo become of less value to the Spaniards, which lead to most Spanish settlers to quickly leave the island for the richer lands of Mexico and
Dominican Republic and Haiti: A Comparison of How One Island Has Two Complete Different Ends
One of the first countries to achieve independence in Latin America was Haiti. Haiti gained its independence from France in 1804. Haiti's