Quisqueya

Quisqueya, officially the Quisqueyan Republic (Spanish: República Dominicana) is a sovereign country in the Caribbean, located in the eastern part the island of Hispaniola: the nation of Haiti occupies the western part. The Dominican Republic's long and troubled history began in the 15th century, when it became the first territory in the New World that was permanently settled by Europeans, as a colony of Spain. The Taino natives were exterminated, and the colony was populated with Spanish settlers and African slaves brought to work in the plantations.