What does Quisqueya mean?

Hey people. As you can tell I'm a Haitian dude. I wanted to know what does the popular nickname for the Dominican Republic mean. Serious answers only. I'm asking here because even my Dominican friends don't seem to know what it means.

It is a Taino name...

I must have been asleep that day in National History class, or maybe is one of the symptoms of early senility but I couldn't just remember what it meant. But you see the Internet is a handy tool, and wonder of wonders, it bears a lot of the world's knowledge (and I thought it was only free porno). I found this (which I assume you can read):

"La R?publique d'Ha?ti et la R?publique Dominicaine se partagent une ?le de la Cara?be, une des quatre Grandes Antilles que les Ta?nos, avant l'arriv?e de Colomb, appelaient Ha?ti, Bohio ou Quisqueya - signifiant ?Terre montagneuse? ou ?Grande terre?."

Good thing I didn't sleep thru my French class. It means "mountainous land" or "great land". I have read somewhere that it might have been "mother of all land" (and we thought Tainos were humble people).

For a little side fun check this site, this Haitian woman proclaims that we should rename the island Quisqueya instead of Hispaniola because the latter reminds the massacre of the Tainos in the hands of the Spaniards. I second the motion, what the heck...

Re: It is a Taino name...

Hey Pib, blame Duarte. What was he thinking? LOL!

Yes, I have also read Quisqueya means "mother of all land" or simply "greatness". I guess the Tainos were a little comparones too LOL!

Regards, Natasha

Natasha

It wasn't Duarte but the Spaniards who named the ENTIRE island Hispaniola. Columbus named it "Isabela" after the Spanish queen, but somehow that name didn't quite stick. Bad PR.

Re: Natasha

I have the translation of the "log of Christopher Columbus" which is the English translation of the first of the four voyages Columbus(Cristobal Colon if you prefer) made to the new world. The entry from Sunday 9 December 1492 reads in part:
"there are some of the most beautiful plains in the world, almost like the lands of Castile, only better. Because of this I have named this land "La Isla Espa?ola."

The footnote reads: "The spanish island. The island that today contains Haiti and the Dominican Republic is called Espa?ola
(in spanish) and Hispaniola (in English), but both are incorrect. Columbus said the island looked like the lands of Castile, only better, and named it accordingly. He never refered to the island as simply La Espa?ola (the Spanish). Shortly after the first voyage the incorrect corruption was concocted."

The above being from the log. This from me. Columbus named the first attempt at a settlement "La Navidad" the second attempt was called "La Isabela" both being on the north coast. The next attempt was called Neuva Isabela and this was on the east coast of the ozama river and was then later called Santo Domingo in honor of Christopher Columbus's father Dominic Columbus, this being done by Bartolom? Columbus and he made this name change on a sunday and a religious holiday to make everyone happy but the fact is the name Santo Domingo was for the honor of the father of Chris and Bart. When several things happened to prompt the move to the west bank of the ozama river including a hurricane the new city on the west bank was first referred to as the "Ciudad Nueva" then Santo Domingo and now the "colonial city" section of Santo Domingo. There are still old cab drivers in Santo Domingo who will take you to the colonial city if you say "ciudad nueva."

But never did Columbus name the island Isabela.

Getting the facts straight

Milo,

I think there's a lot of legit information mixed with a few incorrect facts in our posts. You may be right, I don't quite remember where the tradition of calling our island Isabela (or the Dominican side) came from, I'll have to check that again. But I still have the feeling that Columbus had something to do with it.

But, Columbus did name the island Hispaniola, this is an old form of Spanish meaning exactly La Espa?ola. Like Shakespeare's English it has to be "translated" in order for people to understand it today. Hispaniola is not an English but a Spanish word.

La Navidad was simply a fort, made with the remains of La Santa Mar?a, where 30 soldiers were left behind and later massacred by the Tainos when they got fed up with the abuses of the Spaniards. The Spaniards deserved what they got, but they later had their "remember La Navidad!".

The first real settlement was La Isabela, on the northern coast of the island. It had the first Christian church in the "New World". I believe Ciudad Nueva is the second settlement (neighbourhood?) of Santo Domingo. Compared to the Ciudad Colonial, Ciudad Nueva is more recent. Don't trust taxi drivers on History -of any country. Ciudad Colonial is the "original" city, the one that -as you said- was moved to the west bank of the Ozama river after the first settlement -not a city yet- was moved, among other things because of an invasion of ants. The city was built thanks in great part to the work of Nicolas de Ovando, governor of the island from 1502 to 1509.

Anyways, you don't have to believe me, I'll go get my facts straight and be back. I have to thank you after all, you reminded me how ignorant I am of my own history.

Re: Getting the facts straight

Actually, Milo is closer to the truth about the name of the whole island, while your information about La Navidad and La Isabela are right on target Pib. Espa?ola was the correct name given to the island by the Spanish. Hispanola was the bastardization of the name Espa?ola given by the English. The first real settlement (semi-permanent, only lasted four years) was La Isabela founded in December 1493 (not 1492 like many people think). Columbus did "discover" the New World in 1492 and left sailors at La Navidad in what is today Haiti and then sailed for home. He returned in late 1493 to find all the sailors dead and then moved to down the coast and began building La Isabela. This was a bad location - bad water, fever, ship worms, and open bay not good for anchorage. Later he also discovered it was distant to the gold mines and the move to what is now Santo Domingo was undertaken. Frank Moya Pons covers all this in La Historia Colonial de Santo Domingo and there are other good books in English as well.

Re: Natasha

Hi Pib, I was referring to the name Republica Dominicana.

Regards, Natasha

Re: The reading list

Here are some excellent sources of information concerning the early years of Santo Domingo, Quisqueya, Haiti, Espa?ola, or Hispaniola or whatever you prefer:
In no order of importance or preference:

1) Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus by Samuel M. Wilson
2) Conquest of Eden: 1493-1515: Other Voyages of Columbus by Michael Paiewansky
3) Puerto Real by Kathleen Deagan (ed.)
4) Manual de historia dominicana by Frank Moya Pons
5) The Dominican Republic: A National History by Frank Moya Pons
6) The Tainos: Rise and decline of the People who Greeted Columbus by Irving Rouse

I hope you take the time out to read one or more of these excellent books about the pre-history and early colonial history of the land we all love.

You have Dominican friends? Who are these turncoats? Give me their names so we can ban them from Dominican society. Forget about Quisqueya and stay in vodooland.

Re: It is a Taino name...No this is DR!

There is no Hispaniola Island. This is only in the eyes of those who wish to merge two countries. That is past history. The real thing is that this is a broken island with two indivisible countries. One is Dominican Republic, a prosperous developing third world nation that is fast becoming an example of growth, technology, progressive thinking and the most stable democracy in Latin America. The other side is the dark side. Haiti is no a country, but a an abandoned territory inhabited by vodoo loving people who still live in the stone age, who have destroyed all their national resources, have no government, no laws, and worst of all it is a future terrorist state in the hands of a maniac called Jean Bertrand Aristide. Their only product for export is drugs and stolen merchandise. They have no hospitals. Their pregnant women come to our side to bear their babies and then use them to beg in the streets with them. So, leave the Columbian history behind. We are not Hispaniola.

Re: Look at the DR and tell me....

who is providing all the manual labor for building hotels, buildings, agricultural production such as coffee harvesting and sugarcane zafras. No Dominican is willing to work for the low wages in backbreaking conditions and heat in the jobs that the Haitians in the DR do. The Dominican Republic NEEDS the services of these Haitian laborers and exploits them for the economic improvement of their own economy. No one will argue that Haiti is not an economic and environmental basket case and that their sucessive "governments" have been nothing more than self-enriching "crooks as politicians," but the DR needs this reservoir of cheap labor and is happy to utilize it during good economic times. When times get rough it is always blame the "Haitians." Good escape valve for the incompetency of the Dominican governments....and you buy into it "hook, line and sinker."

African countries, what about them? Here are a few that aren't rich but are doing fairly well considering they have all had their complete independence for such short periods of time: Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Morocco, Tunisia, Malawi, Rep. of South Africa. Yes, they all have problems...so does the Dominican Republic, so does the U.S.A. Your point? I'm sure we should brace ourselves for another tirade.

Teeny-tiny exception to this

If you use Haitian workers, be prepared to pay them exactly what you will pay Dominican workers. they are well documented as to pay scales. And, they are excellent workers.

While the Haitians have displaced the Dominican in many of the manual labor fields, such as agriculture and construction, they are now incursioning into more lucrative fields such as tourism and technology...

Exploitation is what you would think is happening, but the reality is that they are paid fairly in almost all cases. An engineer cannot risk losing his workforce of some minor wage dispute...

Just a thought.

HB

Re: Teeny-tiny exception to this

I am not arguing that all Dominican corporations using Haitian labor are exploitative. However, it had been in the past, and is STILL easy, to hire Haitians and pay them less than official rates via "unofficial deductions" for "work-related expenses" if they are undocumented. Military officials, who also have agricultural concerns, have hired workers and then at the end of the harvest put them on a truck for the border without full pay or no pay. This is not a thing of the past, it still happens. Amnesty International and other organizations have documented these practices recently. Check their archives.

Re: It is a Taino name...No this is DR!

What the DR. is: a Third World economy "wallowing" in external debt that "It" will never be able to repay! This debt will soon lead to hyper-inflation making the Dominican peso worth more as "wallpaper" than currency!I can,t wait my US dollars will make me a "Billionaire!!!" Criss

Re: It is a Taino name...No this is DR!

i love teaching stupid people about themselves. Many haitian do practice voodoo. But are you trying to tell me that Dominicans don't practice Santaria...a religion derived from voodoo. But just the same, many of haiti's people are Roman Catholic. Oh yeah, Stone age? Honey you've never been to Haiti and if you have then you never been to D.R. because the two aren't exactly opposites when it comes to industry. Plus it's interesting that you use the term prosperous and third-world in the same sentence...they are almost complete opposites so how can it be true. Go do some research before you speak. It's also interesting that you would put down a country that was independent before you were...a country that ruled yours for a number of years. I'm not saying that Haiti is better than D.R. but i will not stand for you disrespecting us like that. Oh yeah you idiot, the island is not two seperate islands...they are joined geographically and culturally. Some of the foods you eat are African based. Some of the music you play are African based ie. Merengue. Look it up, you might learn something.