c.

c. AD 1492 – 1500 (Theory): The population of Hispaniola at the time of European contact remains a subject of intense academic debate, with estimates ranging from a few hundred thousand to several million. Research by A. Rosenblatt critically examines the early colonial counts provided by the Spanish, noting that these figures were often influenced by political and economic motivations. Keegan and Hofman point out that determining the actual “paleodemographic” reality is essential for understanding the scale of the subsequent social and biological collapse. This demographic reconstruction relies on integrating archaeological site density data with the limited—and often biased—historical records left by the first European observers.