History of the Dominican Republic
Successive waves of Arawak migrants, moving northward from the Orinoco delta in South America, settled the islands of the Caribbean. Around AD 600, the Taíno Indians, an Arawak culture, arrived on the island, displacing the previous inhabitants. They were organized into cacicazgos (chiefdoms), each led by a cacique (chief). The final Arawak migrants, the Caribs, began moving up the Lesser Antilles in the 12th century, and were raiding Taíno villages on the island's eastern coast by the late sixteenth century.
The Taíno people called the island Quisqueya (mother of all lands) and Ayiti (land of high mountains). At the time of Columbus arrival in 1492, the island's territory consisted of five chiefdoms: Marién, Maguá, Maguana, Jaragua, and Higüey. These were ruled respectively by caciques Guacanagarix, Guarionex, Caonabo, Bohechío, and Cayacoa.
Arrival of the SpanishChristopher Columbus reached the island of Hispaniola on his first voyage, in December 1492. On Columbus second voyage in 1493 the colony of "La Española" was founded and administered from the new settlement of La Isabela which was established on the north coast. This was the first Spanish colony in the New World. La Isabela was struck by two of the earliest Atlantic hurricanes observed by Europeans in 1494 and 1495. Hunger and disease soon led to mutiny, punishment, disillusion, and more hunger and disease. In 1496, Christopher Columbus brother Bartholomew Columbus established the settlement of Santo Domingo de Guzmán on the southern coast. La Isabela was abandoned and Santo Domingo became the new capital, and remains the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the Americas.
[edit] Sixteenth century: Taino decimation & African enslavementHundreds of thousands Tainos living on the island were enslaved to work in gold mines. As a consequence of oppression, forced labor, hunger, disease, and mass killings, by 1535, only 60,000 were still alive.[1] In 1501, the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand I
The Taíno people called the island Quisqueya (mother of all lands) and Ayiti (land of high mountains). At the time of Columbus arrival in 1492, the island's territory consisted of five chiefdoms: Marién, Maguá, Maguana, Jaragua, and Higüey. These were ruled respectively by caciques Guacanagarix, Guarionex, Caonabo, Bohechío, and Cayacoa.
Arrival of the SpanishChristopher Columbus reached the island of Hispaniola on his first voyage, in December 1492. On Columbus second voyage in 1493 the colony of "La Española" was founded and administered from the new settlement of La Isabela which was established on the north coast. This was the first Spanish colony in the New World. La Isabela was struck by two of the earliest Atlantic hurricanes observed by Europeans in 1494 and 1495. Hunger and disease soon led to mutiny, punishment, disillusion, and more hunger and disease. In 1496, Christopher Columbus brother Bartholomew Columbus established the settlement of Santo Domingo de Guzmán on the southern coast. La Isabela was abandoned and Santo Domingo became the new capital, and remains the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the Americas.
[edit] Sixteenth century: Taino decimation & African enslavementHundreds of thousands Tainos living on the island were enslaved to work in gold mines. As a consequence of oppression, forced labor, hunger, disease, and mass killings, by 1535, only 60,000 were still alive.[1] In 1501, the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand I