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Hispaniola

La Española (Spanish)
View from Hispaniola
Geography
Location	Caribbean
Archipelago	Greater Antilles
Area	76,480 km2 (29,529 sq mi)
Area rank	22nd
Coastline	3,059 km (1,900.8 mi)
Highest elevation	3,175 m (10,417 ft)[1]
Highest point	Pico Duarte
Political division
Dominican Republic
Haiti
Demographics
Population	18,943,000[2] (as of 2005)
Density	241.5 /km2 (625.5 /sq mi)

Hispaniola (Spanish: La Española) is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt.

Hispaniola is the site of the first European colonies in the New World, which were founded by Christopher Columbus on his voyages in 1492 and 1493. It is the ninth-most-populous island in the world, and the most populous in the Americas. It is the second largest island in the Caribbean (after Cuba) and the 22nd-largest island in the world.

History[link]

Early map of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, c. 1639.

Etymology[link]

The island bears various names originated by its native people, the Taíno Amerindians. When Columbus took possession of the island in 1492 he named it Hispana in Latin^[3] and La Isla Española, meaning "The Spanish Island", in Spanish.^[4] Bartolomé de las Casas shortened the name to "Española", and when Pietro Martyr d'Anghiera detailed his account of the island in Latin, he translated the name as Hispaniola.^[4] Because Anghiera's literary work was translated into English and French in a short period of time, the name "Hispaniola" is the most frequently used term in English-speaking countries for the island in scientific and cartographic works.

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo and las Casas documented that the island was called Haití ("Mountainous Land") by the Taíno. D'Anghiera added another name, Quizqueia (supposedly "Mother of all Lands"), but later research shows that the word does not seem to derive from the original Arawak Taíno language.^[5] Although the Taínos use of Haití is verified and the name was used by all three historians, evidence suggests that it probably was not the Taíno name of the whole island. Haití was the Taíno name of a region (now known as Los Haitises) in the northeastern section of the present-day Dominican Republic. In the oldest documented map of the island, created by Andrés de Morales, that region is named Montes de Haití ("Haiti Mountains"). Las Casas apparently named the whole island Haití on the basis of that particular region;^[6] d'Anghiera said that the name of one part was given to the whole island.^[5]

The colonial terms Saint-Domingue and Santo Domingo are sometimes still applied to the whole island, although these names refer, respectively, to the colonies that became Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The name Haïti was adopted by Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines as the official name of independent Saint-Domingue, as a tribute to the Amerindian predecessors. Quisqueya (from Quizqueia) is used to refer to the Dominican Republic.

Post-columbian[link]

Christopher Columbus arrived at the island during his first voyage to America in 1492, where his flagship, the Santa Maria, sank after running aground on Christmas Day. During his arrival, he founded the settlement of La Navidad on the north coast of present-day Haiti. On his return the subsequent year, following the disbandment of La Navidad, Columbus quickly founded a second settlement farther east in present-day Dominican Republic. La Isabela, which became the first permanent European settlement in the Americas.^{[citation needed]}

The island was inhabited by the Taíno, one of the indigenous Arawak peoples. The Taino were at first tolerant of Columbus and his crew, and helped him to construct La Navidad on what is now Môle Saint-Nicolas, Haiti, in December 1492. European colonization of the island began earnestly the following year, when 1,300 men arrived from Spain under the watch of Bartolomeo Columbus. In 1496 the town of Nueva Isabela was founded. After being destroyed by a hurricane, it was rebuilt on the opposite side of the Ozama River and called Santo Domingo. It is the oldest permanent European settlement in the Americas.

The Taino population of the island was rapidly decimated, owing to a combination of new infectious diseases, to which they had no immunity, and harsh treatment by Spanish overlords. In 1501, the colony began to import African slaves, believing them more capable of performing the physical labor. The natives had no immunity to European diseases, including smallpox,^[7] and entire tribes were destroyed.^[8] From an estimated initial population of 250,000 in 1492, 14,000 Arawaks were left by 1517.^[9]

In 1574, a census taken of the Greater Antilles, reported 1,000 Spaniards and 12,000 African slaves on Hispaniola.^[10]

As Spain conquered new regions on the mainland of the Americas, its interest in Hispaniola waned, and the colony's population grew slowly. By the early 17th century, the island and its smaller neighbors (notably Tortuga) became regular stopping points for Caribbean pirates. In 1606, the king of Spain ordered all inhabitants of Hispaniola to move close to Santo Domingo, to avoid interaction with pirates. Rather than secure the island, his action meant that French, English and Dutch pirates established their own bases on the abandoned north and west coasts of the island.

French map of Hispaniola by Nicolas de Fer

In 1665, French colonization of the island was officially recognized by King Louis XIV. The French colony was given the name Saint-Domingue. In the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain formally ceded the western third of the island to France. Saint-Domingue quickly came to overshadow the east in both wealth and population. Nicknamed the "Pearl of the Antilles," it became the richest and most prosperous colony in the West Indies, with a slave society based on sugar cane production when demand for sugar was high in Europe. It was an important port in the Americas for goods and products flowing to and from France and Europe.

With the treaty of Peace of Basel, revolutionary France emerged as a major European power. In the part of France with Spain, represented by Domingo d'Yriarte) on 22 July, ending the War of the Pyrenees. In the second 1795 Treaty of Basel (22 July,) Spain ceded the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola. This area later became the Dominican Republic. French settlers had begun to colonize some areas in the Spanish side of the territory.

European colonists often died young due to tropical fevers, as well as racial conflicts in the late eighteenth century. Thinking to regain control on the island that had produced so much wealth, Napoleon sent more than 20,000 troops beginning in 1802 to quell the slave revolt in Saint-Domingue, which quickly escalated into war for independence. Thousands succumbed to a yellow fever during the summer months and more than half of the French army died because of disease. ^[11] After the French removed the surviving 7,000 troops in late 1803, the leaders of the revolution declared the new nation of independent Haiti in early 1804.

Fearing the influence of the slave revolution, the United States and European powers refused to recognize Haiti, the second republic in the western hemisphere. In addition, the US maintained an arms and goods embargo against the country during the years of its own conflict with Great Britain. France demanded a high payment for compensation to slaveholders who lost their property, and Haiti was saddled with unmanageable debt for decades. It became one of the poorest countries in the Americas, while the Dominican Republic gradually has developed into the largest economy of Central America and the Caribbean.

Geography[link]

Topographic map of Hispaniola

Hispaniola is the second-largest island in the Caribbean (after Cuba), with an area of 76,480 square kilometers (29,530 sq mi). Haiti has 10,620 square miles (27,500 km²) (almost 36% of the area); the Dominican Republic 18,704 square miles (48,440 km²)(over 64% of the area).^[12]

The island of Cuba lies 80 kilometers (50 mi) to the northwest across the Windward Passage; to the southwest lies Jamaica, separated by the Jamaica Channel. Puerto Rico lies east of Hispaniola across the Mona Passage. The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands lie to the north. Its westernmost point is known as Cap Carcasse.

Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico are collectively known as the Greater Antilles. The Greater Antilles are made up of continental rock, as distinct from the Lesser Antilles, which are mostly young volcanic or coral islands.

The island has five major mountain ranges: The Central Range, known in the Dominican Republic as the Cordillera Central, spans the central part of the island, extending from the south coast of the Dominican Republic into northwestern Haiti, where it is known as the Massif du Nord. This mountain range boasts the highest peak in the Antilles, Pico Duarte at 3,087 meters (10,128 ft) above sea level. The Cordillera Septentrional runs parallel to the Central Range across the northern end of the Dominican Republic, extending into the Atlantic Ocean as the Samaná Peninsula. The Cordillera Central and Cordillera Septentrional are separated by the lowlands of the Cibao Valley and the Atlantic coastal plains, which extend westward into Haiti as the Plaine du Nord (Northern Plain). The lowest of the ranges is the Cordillera Oriental, in the eastern part of the country.

The Sierra de Neiba rises in the southwest of the Dominican Republic, and continues northwest into Haiti, parallel to the Cordillera Central, as the Montagnes Noires, Chaîne des Matheux and the Montagnes du Trou d'Eau. The Plateau Central lies between the Massif du Nord and the Montagnes Noires, and the Plaine de l'Artibonite lies between the Montagnes Noires and the Chaîne des Matheux, opening westward toward the Gulf of Gonâve, the largest gulf of the Antilles.

The southern range begins in the southwestern most Dominican Republic as the Sierra de Bahoruco, and extends west into Haiti as the Massif de la Selle and the Massif de la Hotte, which form the mountainous spine of Haiti's southern peninsula. Pic de la Selle is the highest peak in the southern range, the third highest peak in the Antilles and consequently the highest point in Haiti, at 2,680 meters (8,790 ft) above sea level. A depression runs parallel to the southern range, between the southern range and the Chaîne des Matheux-Sierra de Neiba. It is known as the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac in Haiti, and Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince lies at its western end. The depression is home to a chain of salt lakes, including Lake Azuei in Haiti and Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic.

Demographics[link]

Haiti has 9 million inhabitants, the Dominican Republic, 9.6 million. Life expectancy is 61 years in Haiti, 73.7 years in the Dominican Republic. Literacy rate (over 15 years old) is 52.9% in Haiti, 87% in the Dominican Republic.^[12]

Economics[link]

Personal income[link]

The estimated annual per capita income is $1,300 in Haiti and $8,200 in Dominican Republic.^[12]

Ecology[link]

The climate of Hispaniola is generally humid and tropical. The island has four distinct ecoregions. The Hispaniolan moist forests ecoregion covers approximately 50% of the island, especially the northern and eastern portions, predominantly in the lowlands but extending up to 2,100 meters (6,900 ft) elevation. The Hispaniolan dry forests ecoregion occupies approximately 20% of the island, lying in the rain shadow of the mountains in the southern and western portion of the island and in the Cibao valley in the center-north of the island. The Hispaniolan pine forests occupy the mountainous 15% of the island, above 850 metres (2,790 ft) elevation. The flooded grasslands and savannas ecoregion in the south central region of the island surrounds a chain of lakes and lagoons in which the most notable include that of Lake Azuei and Trou Caïman in Haiti and the nearby Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic.

In Haiti, deforestation has long been cited by scientists as a source of ecological crisis; the timber industry dates back to the French colonial occupation.

See also[link]

• List of divided islands
• Geography of Haiti
• Geography of the Dominican Republic

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hispaniola

External links[link]

Look up hispaniola in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Google maps

Coordinates: 19°N 71°W / 19°N 71°W / 19; -71

Michel Martelly
56th President of Haiti
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 May 2011
Prime Minister	Jean-Max Bellerive Garry Conille Laurent Lamothe
Preceded by	René Préval
Personal details
Born	(1961-02-12) 12 February 1961 (age 51) Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Political party	Farmers' Response Party
Spouse(s)	Sophia Martelly
Children	4

Joseph Michel Martelly (born 12 February 1961), also known by his stage name "Sweet Micky", is a Haitian politician, former musician and businessman. Since 2011 he is the President of Haiti.^[1]

On 4 April 2011, a senior Haitian official announced that Martelly had won the second round of the election against candidate Mirlande Manigat.^[2][3] He assumed his position of the President of Haiti on May 14, 2011.

Early life[link]

Martelly was born in Port-au-Prince, the middle-class son of a super market supervisor. Martelly is a self-taught keyboard player and mango seller. After graduating from high school, Martelly briefly worked for a construction company in the United States before he enlisted in the Haitian Military Academy. In 1986, after one semester, he returned to Haiti just as Jean-Claude Duvalier, then president-for-life, was heading into exile. Martelly later returned to the U.S. with his then-girlfriend, Sophia, whom he later married in a small ceremony in Miami, Florida.

Upon their return to Haiti, Martelly had his first breakthrough in the music industry when he began playing keyboard as a fill-in musician in local venues in Pétionville and Kenscoff, upscale suburbs of Port-au-Prince.^[4][5]

Music[link]

Martelly has been heralded as a pioneer of a unique brand of compas music, a style of Haitian dance music sung predominantly in the Haitian Creole language. Originally, Compas, or Kompa, was the creation of Nemours Jean-Baptiste. Martelly, a keyboardist and the self-proclaimed "President of Compas," popularized a nouvelle génération, or "new generation" style, of smaller bands with few members that relied predominantly on synthesizers and electronic instruments to reproduce a fuller sound. Martelly's live performances and recordings are sometimes laced with physical humor and humorous sociopolitical commentaries and satires. Although he is the most recognized musician and public personality in Haiti, Martelly's performance style has sometimes ignited controversy throughout Haitian communities.

Recording career[link]

By 1988, Martelly's musical talent, charismatic persona, and his pattering style of compas had gained tremendous popularity at El Rancho Hotel and Casino and The Florville, another local venue. That year, he recorded his first single, Ooo La La, which became an instant hit, followed by "Konpas Foret des Pins" which was released in 1989, also a number hit from his debut album "Woule Woule". During the period of about 1988-2008 Martelly, using his stage name Sweet Micky, recorded fourteen studio albums and a number of live CDs. His music blends Haitian music with fresh interpretations of compas, zouk, reggae, salsa, Caribbean soca and jazz-fusion. In 1997, Martelly's crossover appeal to other musical genres was evident when Wyclef Jean of The Fugees featured him on the title track for Jean's solo effort Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival featuring the Refugee Allstars. As Jean proclaims on 'The Carnival,' "Surprise - it's Sweet Micky, y'all!" Also in 1997, Martelly released an album containing one of his most celebrated hits, Pa Manyen ("Don't Touch"). The song is an adaptation of "Angola", composed by the renowned artist/composer/record producer Ramiro Mendes (of the Mendes Brothers), first recorded by Cesária Évora, the legendary Cape Verdean singer. Pa Manyen went on to be featured in various compilation albums, including the popular Putumayo Presents: French Caribbean in 2003. The song was also covered by Venezuelan singer, Soledad Bravo as "Canta, Canta Corazon" and by Jose Luiz Cortes of Cuba. See also the Mendes Brothers' original version of the song, performed by Ramiro Mendes included in the group's 1997 album - Para Angola Com Um Xi Coracao. Martelly is also notorious for his cursing on stage as well as using homophobic slurs.

Political career[link]

In 1997, Martelly participated in "Knowledge is Power", an HIV educational music video with a message about preventing the spread of HIV. His humanitarian work as the President of the Foundation Rose et Blanc, created by his wife Sophia and himself, to help the poor and disenfranchised of the country, was the basis for his choice as the Good Will Haitian Ambassador for the Protection of the Environment by the current Haitian Government. In 2010 he ran for President of Haiti where he challenged the results as to whether he placed second, making the runoff, or third. On 3 February 2011, it was announced that he would participate in a run-off election scheduled for 20 March 2011.^[6] On 4 April 2011, a senior official announced that Martelly had won the presidential run-off election against candidate Mirlande Manigat with more than 60% of the vote.^[3]

Presidency[link]

Martelly was sworn in as president on 14 May 2011 following the Haitian general election, 2010-2011. The following day, the incumbent Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive resigned to allow Martelly to choose his own Prime Minister.^[7] Martelly was quick to pledge reforms the post-earthquake reconstruction process.^[8]

In August 2011, Martelly announced a plan to reinstate the nation's military. This plan was met with controversy as many human rights activists were concerned about bringing back a military which had been responsible for many atrocities in the past.^[9]

In September 2011, Martelly formed an advisory board that included business executives, bankers, and politicians such as former President of the United States Bill Clinton, that he hopes will improve business and economy in Haiti.^[10]

Personal life and later music career[link]

Martelly currently lives in Haiti, but has held several homes in Palm Beach, Florida. He lives with his wife and former manager, Sophia, and their four children, Olivier, Sandro, Yani, and Malaika, in 2006 Martelly announced his unofficial retirement from recording and performing, but two years later announced a return to music with a new single, Magouyè, and the video/short film, "Bandi Legal yo ki rive". He is a cousin of Port-au-Prince hotel manager and musician Richard Morse.^[11]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Music[link]

• Sweet Micky: Mon Colonel, music video

v t e Heads of State of Haiti Post-Revolutionary (1804-1859) Dessalines/Jacques I · Christophe/Henri I · Blanchet (acting) · Pétion · Boyer · Rivière-Hérard · Guerrier · Pierrot · Riché · Soulouque/Faustin I Post-Imperial (1859-1930) Geffrard · Saget (provisional) · Salnave · Saget · Council of Secretaries of State · Domingue · Boisrond-Canal · Lamothe (provisional) · Salomon · Boisrond-Canal (provisional) · Légitime · Jeune (provisional) · Hyppolite · Simon Sam · Boisrond-Canal (provisional) · Alexis · Simon · Leconte · Auguste · Oreste · Zamor · Théodore · Guillaume Sam · Dartiguenave · Borno · Roy Post-Occupation (1930-1986) Vincent · Lescot · Lavaud · Estimé · Lavaud · Magloire · Pierre-Louis (provisional) · Sylvain (provisional) · Executive Government Council · Fignolé (provisional) · Kebreau · François Duvalier · Jean-Claude Duvalier Post-Duvalier (1986-2011) Namphy · Manigat · Namphy · Avril · Abraham · Pascal-Trouillot · Aristide · Cédras · Nérette · Bazin (provisional) · Aristide · Jonassaint (provisional) · Aristide · Préval (provisional) · Aristide · Alexandre · Préval Post-Quake (2011-present) Martelly