The island home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic is known as La Hispaniola. It was the site of the first colonies set up by European explorers, who inadvertently discovered the Americas while trying to find a sea based route to the Middle East and India. One Spanish explorer in particular has become synonymous with the discovery of the New World.
The first European to establish colonies on La Hispaniola, was the historical figure Christopher Columbus. Columbus's first trips to La Hispaniola occurred in the years 1492 and 1493. At that time the continents of North and South America were unknown, so when Columbus first came across the edge of the New World, he mistakenly assumed that he was off the coast of Japan. What Columbus was actually seeing was the island of La Hispaniola. Columbus lost one of his ships during his first trip to the New World, so it is doubtful that it was considered a successful voyage; the Santa Maria sustained damage and sank. As a result he was forced to leave thirty-nine men behind at the newly established settlement, La Navidad. If he hadn't left them he would not have been able to return to Spain with his remaining ships. On the north coast of what is now a part of Haiti, was the settlement of La Navidad.
Columbus managed to convince the Spanish crown to fund a second voyage, even though he had lost a ship, and had returned to Spain mostly empty handed. Columbus returned to La Hispaniola within a year. Unfortunately, when he returned to La Navidad, none of the crew he had left behind were still alive. At that juncture, La Navidad was doomed as a colony. In what is now called the Dominican Republic, a new colony, La Isabela was created instead.
Things did not start off well for the new colony of La Isabella. It was struck by hurricanes in both 1494 and 1495. Also, the location was not well planned, which resulted in a lot of wasted effort in extreme heat and not enough provisions to go around. Disease, death, depression and hunger resulted in a plan to overthrow Columbus's rule. The mutiny, which never came to fruition, was led by one, Bernal de Pisa. He and others were planning to capture a few of Columbus's ships and flee back to Spain. Columbus was given foreknowledge of the plot and all involved were seriously punished.
Eventually, La Isabella was abandoned just like Columbus's earlier colony, La Navidad, and a new colony was established. In what is now the Dominican Republic, the new settlement of, Santo Domingo, was built in 1496. The third time was the charm for Christopher Columbus to establish a colony. In 1498, Santo Domingo was awarded its official status as a city. Santo Domingo now has the distinction of being the longest inhabited European colony/settlement in all the Americas.
Presently, Santo Domingo is the capital city of the Dominican Republic. Its population is over 4 million, which makes it the largest city in not only the Dominican Republic, but in all of the vast Caribbean. New tourist facilities continue to be built due to its popularity as a tourist attraction, and also due to the continued growth and opportunities in the tourism arena.
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