Word: hispaniola
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Columbus, greeted by the peaceful Arawaks on Hispaniola, was immediately warned about the man-eating Caribs on nearby islands. The conquistadors reported that the Aztecs butchered victims, ate the flesh and fed the entrails to zoo animals. Henry Morton Stanley said he was beset on all sides by savage cannibals during his famous trek through Africa to find Livingstone. Margaret Mead wrote about the man-eating Mundugumor of New Guinea. There is only one thing wrong with all these reports: they come second or third hand, and are probably false. That is the surprising thesis of a new book called...
David wreaked its greatest havoc on the island of Hispaniola, which is shared jointly by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In the town of Padre Las Casas, 75 miles west of Santo Domingo, some 400 people who had huddled for safety in a church and a school were killed when floodwaters from the Yaque River swept them away. At least 600 more were killed in the Dominican Republic, while an estimated 150,000 were left homeless, including 90,000 in Santo Domingo alone. President Antonio Guzmán understandably described the storm as "this terrible tragedy of David," and reckoned...
Though its course across Hispaniola weakened the storm, David was still packing winds of 90 m.p.h. and more when it passed over the eastern tip of Cuba and headed straight for Florida's southeast coast. Governor Robert Graham ordered the evacuation of low-lying areas, and as many as 300,000 people headed for higher ground, including 15,000 from the Keys alone. Public buses carried senior citizens from Miami Beach to stormproof shelters, while animals at Crandon Park Zoo in Key Biscayne were trucked to safety. There were sudden shortages of candles and flashlights and other household items...
...proved a fateful decision. Roughly 80 miles off the coast of the island of Hispaniola, the wooden ship ground into a coral reef known today as Silver Shoals. The admiral and much of his crew floated to shore on rafts lashed together from the debris, but the ship's rich cargo sank beneath the waves. Just 46 years later, Colonist William Phips, born of a poor Maine family, found the Concepción and hauled up 32 tons of silver from the barnacle-encrusted wreck. In return for one-fifth of the find, a grateful King James...
Haiti's neighbors braced for trouble. The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, put its border troops on a full alert. In Washington, the State Department conceded that the U.S. had increased naval and air surveillance of the sea approaches to Haiti. Since the island's northwestern tip is only 50 miles away from Cuba across the Windward Passage, the U.S. is worried that Fidel Castro, who has been more bellicose than usual in recent weeks, may seize upon Duvalier's death as an opportunity to stir up trouble in Haiti...