When did Hispaniola become settled?
Hispaniola
The island was inhabited by the Taíno, one of the indigenous Arawak peoples. The Taíno helped Columbus construct La Navidad on what is now Môle-Saint-Nicolas, Haiti, in December 1492. European colonization of the island began in earnest the following year, when 1,300 men arrived from Spain under the watch of Bartolomeo Columbus. In 1496, the town of Nueva Isabela was founded. After being destroyed by a hurricane, it was rebuilt on the opposite side of the Ozama River and called Santo Domingo. It is the oldest permanent European settlement in the Americas.[19]