The Roman Catholic Church becomes the primary agent in spreading Spanish culture in the Americas.

The ecclesiastical organization developed for Santo Domingo and later established throughout Spanish America reflects a union of church and state closer than that which actually prevails in Spain itself.

The Royal Patronage of the Indies (Real Patronato de Indias, or, as it will be called later, the Patronato Real) serves as the organizational agent of this affiliation of the church and the Spanish crown.

Spain's first permanent settlement in the New World is established on the southern coast at the present site of Santo Domingo.

Under Spanish sovereignty, the entire island bears the name Santo Domingo.

Indications of the presence of gold—the lifeblood of the nascent mercantilist system—and a population of tractable natives who can be used as laborers combines to attract Spanish newcomers interested in acquiring wealth quickly during the early years.

Their relations with the Taino natives, whom they ruthlessly maltreat, deteriorated from the beginning.

Aroused by continued seizures of their food supplies, other exactions, and abuse of their women, the formerly peaceful natives rebel—only to be crushed decisively in 1495.

Columbus, who rules the colony as royal governor until 1499, devises the repartimiento system of land settlement and native labor under which a settler, without assuming any obligation to the authorities, can be granted in perpetuity a large tract of land together with the services of the natives living on it.

The landowners among the Spanish colonists had successfully conspired against Columbus as early as the 1490s.

His successor, Francisco de Bobadilla, is appointed chief justice and royal commissioner by the Spanish crown in 1499.

Bobadilla sends Columbus back to Spain in irons; Queen Isabella soon orders him released.

Bobadilla, who had proved an inept administrator, is replaced in 1503 by the more efficient Nicolas de Ovando, who assumes the titles of governor and supreme justice.

Because of his success in initiating reforms desired by the crown—the encomienda system among them—Ovando receives the title of Founder of Spain's Empire in the Indies.

The native Taíno people before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 had populated the island that they call Quisqueya (mother of all lands) and Ayiti (land of high mountains), and which Columbus later names Hispaniola, including the territory of today's Republic of Haiti.

At this time, the island's territory consists of five chiefdoms: Marién, Maguá, Maguana, Jaragua, and Higüey These are ruled respectively by caciques (chiefs) Guacanagarix, Guarionex, Caonabo, Bohechío, and Cayacoa.

Bartholomew Columbus had founded a settlement on the site of today’s Santo Domingo and named it La Nueva Isabela, after the earlier settlement in the north named after the Queen of Spain, Isabella I.

It had been renamed "Santo Domingo" in 1495, in honor of Saint Dominic.

Santo Domingo will come to be known as the "Gateway to the Caribbean" and the chief town in Hispaniola from this point forward.

Expeditions that lead to Ponce de León's colonization of Puerto Rico, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar's colonization of Cuba, Hernando Cortes' conquest of Mexico, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa's sighting of the Pacific Ocean will all be all launched from Santo Domingo.

Columbus, in poor health, had returned to Hispaniola on August 19, only to find that many of the Spanish settlers of the new colony are in rebellion against his and Bartholomew’s rule, claiming that Columbus had misled them about the supposedly bountiful riches of the New World.

A number of returning settlers and sailors have lobbied against Columbus at the Spanish court, accusing him and his brothers of gross mismanagement.

Columbus has some of his crew hanged for disobedience.

He has an economic interest in the enslavement of the Hispaniola natives and for this reason is not eager to baptize them, which attracts criticism from some churchmen.

The Ojeda expedition arrives in Hispaniola on September 5, and is met with anger by the followers of Christopher Columbus because they consider that Ojeda is infringing upon Columbus’ exploring privileges.

This results in brawls and fights between both groups, which leave a number of dead and wounded.

Columbus is physically and mentally exhausted by the end of his third voyage: his body is wracked by arthritis and his eyes by ophthalmia.

In October 1499, he sends two ships to Spain, asking the Court of Spain to appoint a royal commissioner to help him govern.

Columbus had eventually been forced to make peace with the rebellious colonists on humiliating terms.

By this time, accusations of tyranny and incompetence on the part of Columbus had also reached the Court.

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand responded by removing Columbus from power and replacing him with Francisco de Bobadilla, a member of the Order of Calatrava.

Bobadilla, dispatched by the Spanish authorities to Santo Domingo to investigate the rebellious colonist’s complaints against the Columbus brothers, including the accusations of brutality made against Columbus himself, arrives in 1500 with full powers.

Landing in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away in the explorations of his Third voyage, Bobadilla is immediately met with complaints about both Christopher and Bartolomé, as well as Christopher’s son Diego.

The Spanish Crown intends to develop the West Indies economically and thereby expand Spanish political, religious, and administrative influence in the region.

Hernán Cortés, a family acquaintance and distant relative, was supposed to sail to the Americas in this expedition, but had been prevented from making the journey by an injury he sustained while hurriedly escaping from the bedroom of a married woman of Medellín.