Diario las Américas., 1958-05-21
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HAITI - In December, 1892,
Christopher Columbus, on his first
voyage, discovered the island which
he named "La Isla Espanola"
(Hispaniola), and where he estab-
lished the first European settle
ment in the New World. Sailing
from Cuba, the Great Admiral
sighted the Island on December
5, and the next day, Saint Nj
cholas Day, brought his caravels
to anchor in a superb harbor or
the western tip, which he named
Port st. Nicholas, now Mole st.
Nicolas. Skirting the northern
coast, he landed a few days later
on the shore of what is called
now Moustique Bay. Here he rails
ed a large cross, planted the stand
ard of Castillo and Leon, and took
possession of the island in the
name of the Spanish %sovereigns.
Christmas Day dawned disas-
trously for the intrepid Admiral
of the Ocean Sea. While he slept
aboard his flagship, the Santa Ma
ria," the helmsman entrusted the
tiller to a young ships boy, who
left the little carayen drift into one
of the treacherous coral reefs at
the entrance of Acul Bay, where
its glorious voyage came to an
end forever. But the loss of the
Santa Maria" paved the way for
the founding of Americas first
colony. Because it is certain,
Columbus wrote in his journal,
"that if l had not run aground
here l should have kept out to sea
without anchoring at this place.
Neither would have l left people
here on this voyage"
The Indians who welcomed Co
lumbus with gifts of gold, food and
tobacco were of the Arawak race.
They called themselves TainoS
(good people,, and their country
Haiti (the mountainous country,
and also Quisqueya. Columbus
described them as gentle beings,
h~ospitable, curious and merry,
walking in beauty and possessors
of a spiritual religion"
This virgin colony, named la
Villa de la Navidad Clown of the
Nativity because it was Christmas
Day, was founded in the vicinity
of what is now Cap-Haitien and a
fortress was built with salvage
from the Santa Maria" When
Columbus sailed from Spain in Jan.
uary, 1493, he left behind AZ colon
lists. A year later he returned to
find the fortress in ruins and the
colonists slain. The town of Isa-
bella, second settlement establish
ed by Columbus in 1494, was as i'll
fated as the first.
Hispaniola became the gateway
to new discoveries. Here Alfonso
de Ojeda organized his expedi-
tons to settle the mainland, lead
ing to the discovery of the Pacific
Ocean by Vasco Nuhez de Balboa
and the conquest of Peru by Fran
cisco Pizarro. For two centuries
Hispaniola remained a Spanish pos
session. The city of Santo Domingo,
founded in 1895 by Columbus
brother, Bartholomew, was the
first settlement to endure per-
manently. 1t became the capital Uf
SPANS New World Empire and, in
time the whole island became
dnown as Santo Domingo, or
Saint Dominique, as the French
called it.
Before the end of the 18th. cen
fury, the struggle between English,
French and Sanish to win control
of the island was well under way.
Frances claim to the western third,
now the Republic of Haiti, was
recognized by the Treaty of Rys-
wick in 1897, leaving the Spanish
in control of the eastern two
thirds, which eventually became
the Dominican Republic.
Spanish Version Page 3