Talk:Quisqueya

It is not an indigenous name
Dominican scholars have long proved that this term is not an indigenous name. It emerged on the island after the conquest and embraced by the Dominican elite in the mid 19th century to differentiate from Haiti, which was the common name for the entire island up to then. See Ginetta Calendario's, Black Behind the Ear, page 281, Note 125. Here is the link to the book in Google Books: Historian (talk) 18:14, 16 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Changes to be made accordingly, thanks. Savvyjack23 (talk) 08:04, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

Savvyjack23 Thanks for chipping in. Here are key links to sources on this topic:


 * For Candelario's reference, I copied only the relevant pages: Black Behind the Ear, page 281, Note 125.


 * Here is Geggus's article in the NWIG, "The naming of Haiti," which he re-published in his 2002 book, Haitian Revolutionary Studies. This is the most complete explanation of the origins of the term Quisqueya / Quizquella.

Of two key Dominican scholars (none of them living at this moment), here is Apolinar Tejera's article "¿Quid de Quisqueya?". See this also from Tejera, here in page 321.


 * The BAGN republished Vetilio Alfau Durán's article in which he ignored Tejera's investigations on the topic of Quisqueya.


 * Here is Martir's original mention of the term Quizquella.

The point is that the monicker "Quisqueya" appears to have been Pedro Martir's invention, which European writers later imitated, and mid-19th century Dominicans adopted for the DR to differentiate themselves from Haitians and separate their new country from Spain too. In other words, Quisqueya (a term invented by Martir, which was underused for most of the colonial period), in the 29th C. came to oppose Haiti and Spain, and signify a new nation: the DR-- though Haitians also used it, and continue to use it as a name for the island, but less frequently than Haiti. It is a very appealing term for us, Dominicans, exactly because of these reasons: it carves out space from colonialism, and from Haitian and Spanish occupations, and reaches back to an imaginary Indian past of invented heroism and adopted indigenous identity. Look at the discussion over the term and it uses in the Dominican newspaper HOY.

The point is not to argue that Quisqueya is not a proper name for the island, which it is now. People give meaning to words; not dictionaries. Our job is to clearly state that Quisqueya (according to the evidence we have now) is NOT an indigenous (or Taino) name. Perhaps we may want to write a short article for this term. Thanks! Historian (talk) 17:24, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

No sources lol
No sources cause it was made up. Island was never called quisqueya. Hispanist cope 2603:9001:A00:868A:703D:454:B543:1D08 (talk) 07:57, 26 November 2022 (UTC)