What is Hispaniola known as today?

What is Hispaniola known as today?

The entire island has also been referred to as Haiti, supposed by some to be the precolonial name used by aboriginal Indians (the Taino), who also called it Quisqueya. Hispaniola has relatively few offshore islands, the most notable being Gonâve Island and Tortue (Tortuga) Island.

How did the Caribbean islands came to be known as West Indies?

Along with a number of colonies in North America, the Caribbean formed the heart of England’s first overseas empire. The region was also known as the ‘West Indies’ because when the explorer Christopher Columbus first arrived there in 1492, he believed that he had sailed to the ‘Indies’, as Asia was then known.

What are the names of the islands in the West Indies?

Three major physiographic divisions constitute the West Indies: the Greater Antilles, comprising the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola ( Haiti and the Dominican Republic ), and Puerto Rico; the Lesser Antilles, including the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat,…

Where did people from the West Indies intermarry?

Some of these Caribbean immigrants held on to their particular national identities (or a broader “West Indian” ethnic identity), while others intermarried with native black A view of Bay Street, Nassau, in the Bahama Islands, ca. 1906.

Where did people from the West Indies settle?

1 hese Afro-Caribbean, or “West Indian,” 2 immigrants settled primarily in northeastern port cities, with New York City being the top destination. Outside of the Northeast, South Florida was a major destination, mainly for immigrants coming from the Bahamas.

What are the most common causes of death in the West Indies?

Diseases of the circulatory system and cancer are major causes of death, while gastroenteritis, influenza, pneumonia, malaria, tuberculosis, and childhood diseases are also major health problems. In the least-developed countries, children and women commonly suffer from nutritional-deficiency diseases.