Posts Tagged Quisqueya
Gold, cows, and pirates: the story of how the island of Hispaniola (or Quisqueya) ended up split into two countries: 1492-1777
Posted by ONeil in History of the Borderlands on September 2nd, 2009
Drawing of the finale of Act I of The Pirates of Penzance, found in Wikipedia
The island of Hispaniola (or Quisqueya as the Haitians prefer to call it) is unique in that it is the only island in the world that contains two nation states,yet these two countries couldn’t be more different. Haiti is very African in look and culture and Haitians speak French and Creole. The Dominican Republic is very Latin American in its look and culture and Dominicans speak Spanish. The two countries don’t even share the same national sports: Haitians are fanatics for soccer and Dominicans for baseball. How did this small island end up so deeply divided? It all began with a story of gold, cows, and pirates. Read the rest of this entry »
