Hispaniola (, also UK: ; Spanish : La Española; Latin and French : Hispaniola; Haitian Creole: Ispayola; Taino: Haiti ) is an island in the Caribbeanarchipelago known as the Greater Antilles. It is the most populous island in the West Indies and the region 's second largest after Cuba.
The 76,192- square -kilometre (29,418 sq mi) island is divided into two separate, sovereign nations: the Spanish -speaking Dominican Republic (48,445 km2, 18,705 sq mi) to the east and French / Haitian Creole-speaking Haiti (27,750 km2, 10,710 sq mi) to the west. The only other shared island in the Caribbean is Saint Martin, which is shared between France ( Saint Martin) and the Netherlands (Sint Maarten).
Hispaniola is the site of the firstEuropean settlement in the Americas, La Navidad (1492–1493), as well as the first proper town, La Isabela (1493–1500), and the first permanent settlement and current capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo (est. 1498). These settlements were founded successively in each of Christopher Columbus ' first three voyages.
History
Etymology
The island was called by various names by its native people, the Taíno Amerindians. No known Taíno texts exist, hence, historical evidence for those names comes through three European historians: the Italian Pietro Martyr d‘Anghiera, and the Spaniards Bartolomé de las Casas and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo. Fernández de Oviedo and de las Casas both recorded that the island was called Haití ("Mountainous Land ") by the Taíno.
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