HAITI, THE HOME OF TWIN REPUBLICS 



By Sir Harry Johnston 



THE best general name for the sec- 

 ond largest of the Greater Antilles 

 is that which Columbus gave to it 

 after its discovery in 1492 — Hispaniola. 

 He christened his first settlement there 

 "San [or Santo] Domingo" because it 

 was discovered on a Sunday. 



As to a great extent the Spanish colo- 

 nization of the island proceeded from 

 this fortified town, now the capital of the 

 Dominican Republic, "San Domingo" to 

 a great extent superseded Hispaniola 

 (Espahola) as the name of the whole 

 island. The French pirates and bucca- 

 neers (Boucaniers, or the people who 

 visited the island to kill the wild cattle 

 and dry the strips of beef — boucan — in 

 the sun) generally called the island "Saint 

 Domingue." 



The aborigines seem to have lingered 

 longest in existence in the northwestern 

 parts of Hispaniola, and the name which 

 they gave to their country, or to one of 

 its districts, was Haiti. v 



Eventually the French pirates were 

 succeeded by a regular French colonial 

 administration in the reign of Louis XIV, 

 and an arrangement was come to with 

 Spain by which the western third of His- 

 paniola became a French colony, the east- 

 ern two-thirds being almost forsaken, 

 owing to the superior attractions to the 

 Spaniard of his vast empire in Central 

 and South America. 



THE ISLAND IS DIVIDED INTO TWO INDE- 

 PENDENT STATES 



The French continued to use the name 

 Domingue down to the close of the eigh- 

 teenth century ; but when the negro revolt 

 became victorious in 1804 the Arawak 

 name of Haiti was revived and applied 

 by the French-speaking negroes to the 

 whole of the island. Then, when the 

 Spanish element in eastern Hispaniola 

 revived and shook itself free of negro 

 domination, it became, in 1844, the Re- 

 public of Santo Domingo, or the Domin- 

 ican Republic. 



Now this large island of 28,249 square 

 miles is very sharply and definitely di- 



vided into two States — the Republic of 

 Haiti in the west and of Santo Domingo 

 in the east.* Santo Domingo speaks Span- 

 ish, either the classical Castilian or a 

 slightly corrupted dialect, and Haiti use.-> 

 French as its official language, while 

 2,000,000 of its negro peasantry speak a 

 Creole language, which, though founded 

 on French, has become an absolutely dis- 

 tinct tongue. It is somewhat awkward. 

 therefore, to give the name of "Haiti" or 

 of "San Domingo" to the whole island. 

 Hispaniola would be preferable. 



It is highly improbable that the whole 

 of Hispaniola ever will be under one cen- 

 tral government. Santo Domingo will 

 become a yellow or even a white State. 

 Haiti will always be a land of the blacks. 



A EAND OF MANY MOUNTAINS AND 

 WONDERFUL SCENERY 



The scenery of Haiti — and indeed of 

 Hispaniola generally — when this island 

 becomes better known, will take a very 

 high rank among the beautiful and de- 

 lectable regions of the world. The cli- 

 mate, though hot, is healthful, and for six 

 months of the year, at least, delightful : 

 while everywhere above 2,000 feet in alti- 

 tude it is ideally temperate all the year 

 round. 



Haiti is extraordinarily mountainous, 

 though its ranges or peaks do not reach 

 to the altitudes attained by two or three 

 points in Santo Domingo, where the high- 

 est peak — Loma de la Tina — possibly ex- 

 ceeds 10,000 feet in altitude. The highest 

 point as yet measured within the limits 

 of Haiti is about 8,920 feet (the Saddle 

 Mountains, or Mont de la Selle). 



The splendid range of the Cibao Moun- 

 tains (which begins in the northwest of 

 Haiti) extends from northeast to south- 

 west and is really the spine of the island : 

 but the great altitudes of this range are 

 reached within Dominican limits in the 



* See also in The Geographic. "Haiti : A De- 

 generating Island," by Rear Admiral Colby M. 

 Chester, U. S. N., March, 1908. and "YYards 

 of the United States," August, 19 16. 



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