1492–1788: (Institutional Divergence on the Island): Throughout the early colonial period, the island was split between two fundamentally different civilizat…

1492–1788: (Institutional Divergence on the Island): Throughout the early colonial period, the island was split between two fundamentally different civilizational projects: the Hispanic East and the revolutionary West. The dominant institutions in the eastern two-thirds of the island remained rooted in Iberia, characterized as Christian and Hispanic. In contrast, the western third, Ayiti, evolved into a Jacobin and Vodou-centered society that eventually rejected its European origins. While the East maintained ties to the “gardens of Spain,” the West was defined by the “Coast of Slaves” and the blood-watered “Tree of Liberty”. This period established a deep cultural and institutional schism between the neighboring territories that persists into the modern era.