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Haiti FRENCH COLONIALISM
Although Hispaniola never realized its economic
potential
under Spanish rule, it remained strategically important as
the
gateway to the Caribbean. The Caribbean region provided
the
opportunity for seafarers from Britain, France, and the
Netherlands to impede Spanish shipping, to waylay galleons
crammed with gold, and to establish a foothold in a
hemisphere
parceled by papal decree between the Roman Catholic
kingdoms of
Spain and Portugal. This competition was carried on
throughout
the Caribbean, but nowhere as intensely as on Hispaniola.
Sir Francis Drake of England led one of the most famous
forays against the port of Santo Domingo in 1586, just two
years
before he played a key role in the English navy's defeat
of the
Spanish Armada. Drake failed to secure the island, but his
raid,
along with the arrival of corsairs and freebooters in
scattered
settlements, was part of a pattern of encroachment that
gradually
diluted Spanish dominance.
Data as of December 1989
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