Hispaniola is a Caribbean island made up of two independent countries: the Dominican Republic in the east and Haiti in the west. The 640 mile (about a thousand km) long island is the second-largest in the Caribbean.
Christopher Columbus arrived on the island on Christmas Day 1492, on his first journey across the Atlantic. He named it Hispania, in honour of the country he sailed for. Hispaniola became an important outpost for the Spanish in the New World, as they controlled other islands and parts of Central America from there. The natives who they met there were made slaves.
During the 16th century the Spanish started bringing African slaves to the island. They were able to work hard under harsh climate conditions and did not get any of the diseases that Europeans did. Today, most of the island's 20 million people descend from African slaves.
In the 17th century pirates came to Hispaniola and used the island as a base for their raids against Spanish treasure ships. During this period French exploration and colonisation began on the western part of the island. Spain gave up a third of the island to France. It quickly became a centre of trade between Europe and the New World.