<P> In 1665, French colonization of the island was officially recognized by King Louis XIV . The French colony was given the name Saint - Domingue . In the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain formally ceded the western third of the island to France . Saint - Domingue quickly came to overshadow the east in both wealth and population . Nicknamed the "Pearl of the Antilles," it became the richest and most prosperous colony in the West Indies, with a system of human enslavement used to grow and harvest sugar cane, during a time when demand for sugar was high in Europe . Slavery kept prices low and profit was maximized at the expense of human lives . It was an important port in the Americas for goods and products flowing to and from France and Europe . </P> <P> With the treaty of Peace of Basel, revolutionary France emerged as a major European power . In the second 1795 Treaty of Basel (July 22), Spain ceded the eastern two - thirds of the island of Hispaniola, later to become the Dominican Republic . French settlers had begun to colonize some areas in the Spanish side of the territory . </P> <P> European colonists often died young due to tropical fevers, as well as from violent slave resistance in the late eighteenth century . When the French Revolution abolished slavery in the colonies on February 4, 1794, it was a European first, and when Napoleon reimposed slavery in 1802 it led to a major upheaval by the emancipated black slaves . </P> <P> Thousands of the French troops sent by Napoleon to reestablish slavery succumbed to yellow fever during the summer months, and more than half of the French army died because of disease . After the French removed the surviving 7,000 troops in late 1803, the leaders of the revolution declared western Hispaniola the new nation of independent Haiti in early 1804 . France continued to rule Spanish Santo Domingo . In 1805, Haitian troops of General Henri Christophe tried to conquer all of Hispaniola . They invaded Santo Domingo and sacked the towns of Santiago de los Caballeros and Moca, killing most of their residents, but news of a French fleet sailing towards Haiti forced General Christophe to return to Haiti, leaving the eastern Spanish side of the island in French hands . In 1808, following Napoleon's invasion of Spain, the criollos of Santo Domingo revolted against French rule and, with the aid of the United Kingdom (Spain's ally) returned Santo Domingo to Spanish control . </P>

What is the difference between hispaniola and saint domingue