Hispaniola

island in the Caribbean

21 dated entries naming Hispaniola, drawn from 17 separate years between 1492 CE and 2004 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Hispanola in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

JSON Wikipedia article Wikidata Q25277

15th century

1492December 5 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola in present day northwestern Haiti.source
1493December 8 – The first Roman Catholic Mass in the New World is celebrated, with Friar Juan Pérez of the Order of Friars Minor conducting the services at Point Concepcion on the island of Hispaniola.source
1494September 24 – The earliest hurricane to be specifically recorded by historians, strikes the island of Hispaniola near the Spanish colonial capital, La Isabela, the day after Christopher Columbus arrives at Saona, following five months of explorations.source
1496March 10 – Christopher Columbus leaves Hispaniola for Spain, ending his second visit to the Western Hemisphere. During his time here he has forcibly subjugated the island, enslaved the Taíno, and laid the basis for a system of land grants tied to the Taíno's enslavement.source
1496August 5 – Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, formally founds the city of Santo Domingo (first settled in March) on Hispaniola (in the modern-day Dominican Republic), making it the oldest permanent European settlement in the New World.source
1500August 23 – Francisco de Bobadilla, appointed to replace Admiral Christopher Columbus as Spanish Governor-General of the New World, arrives at Santo Domingo on the island of Hispanola. Bobadilla issues an order directing Christopher and Bartolomeo Columbus to appear before him at Santo Domingo.source

16th century

1502The first African slaves brought to the New World arrive at the island of Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic).source
1502February 13 – The new Viceroy of the New World, Nicolás de Ovando, departs Spain with a fleet of 30 ships and orders to replace Viceroy Francisco de Bobadilla at Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola, and arrives in April.source
1502June 29 – Columbus and his crew attempt to land at Santo Domingo in order to avoid being caught in a hurricane, despite being ordered not to return to Hispaniola. Nicolás de Ovando, the Spanish Viceroy, refuses to let Columbus sail into harbor and does not believe the warnings of the hurricane, which strikes two days later.source
1502July 1 – A powerful hurricane sweeps through the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Rico and the island of Hispaniola, two days after Christopher Columbus was denied permission to land at Santo Domingo. An estimated 500 people are killed when the winds wreck 20 of the 31 ships brought from Spain by the new Viceroy, Nicolás de Ovando, including Ovando's flagship, El Dorado. Former Viceroy Francisco de Bobadilla and administrator Francisco Roldán are among the people killed. A ship provided by Bobadilla for Columbus to transport the gold owed to him, the Aguja, is one of the 11 to survive the hurricane and accusations are made that Columbus magically invoked the storm as an act of vengeance.source
1511December 21 – In an impassioned sermon on the fourth Sunday of Advent at Santo Domingo, Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos openly denounces the Spanish conquistadors' cruelty and abuse of the Taino people practice of Encomienda (forcible enslavement of non-Christian peoples) on the island of Hispanola. and adds that neither he nor any of his missionaries will allow slaveholders to partake in confession.source
1518A swarm of stinging ants devastates crops on Hispaniola.source
1538October 28 – The first university of the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is founded on the island of Hispaniola in Santo Domingo.source
1562October – Privateer John Hawkins undertakes the first of several slave trading voyages, attacking Portuguese slave ships off the West African coast and forcibly transporting the enslaved Africans onboard to Spanish colonies in the Americas to sell. Hawkins arrives at the island of Hispaniola in the Spanish West Indies, where he illicitly sells the enslaved Africans to local colonists, as his presence is technically in violation of Spanish law.source

17th century

1691January 14 – A fleet of ships carrying 827 Spanish Navy sailors and marines arrives at Manzanillo Bay on the island of Hispaniola in what is now the Dominican Republic and joins 700 Spanish cavalry, then proceeds westward to invade the French side of the island in what is now Haiti.source

18th century

1795July 22 – The Second Treaty of Basel is signed between the French First Republic and Spain, ending the War of the Pyrenees. Spain cedes its half of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola to France.source

19th century

1801July 7 – Toussaint Louverture promulgates a reforming constitution for Santo Domingo, declaring himself emperor for life of the entire island of Hispaniola, and nominally abolishing slavery.source
1802January 29 – The French Saint-Domingue expedition (40,000 troops) led by General Charles Leclerc (Bonaparte's brother-in-law) lands in Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti) in an attempt to restore colonial rule following the Haitian Revolution in which Toussaint Louverture (a black former slave) has proclaimed himself Governor-General for Life and established control over Hispaniola.source
1821December 1 – History of the Dominican Republic: On the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, General José Núñez de Cáceres ends the España Boba era of Spanish rule in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo by establishing the Republic of Spanish Haiti. It will last for three months before being invaded by Haiti.source

20th century

1963October 4 – Hurricane Flora, one of the worst Atlantic storms in history, hits Hispaniola and Cuba, killing nearly 7,000 people.source

21st century

2004September 16 – Hurricane Jeanne hits the island of Hispaniola, killing thousands in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.source