Christopher Columbus landed on the Western part of Hispaniola, in what is now Haiti, on December 6, 1492, which the Ta?no people had inhabited since the 7th century. The Dominican Republic is the second-largest Caribbean nation by area (after Cuba) at 48,445 square kilometers (18,705 sq mi), and 3rd by population with approximately 10 million people, of which approximately three million live in the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, the capital city. The western one-third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands, along with Saint Martin, that are shared by two countries. The Dominican Republic is a sovereign state occupying the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region.
