The settlement Columbus founded on Hispaniola during his second voyage was La Isabela. It was established on the island’s northern coast in late December 1493 or early January 1494 and named for Queen Isabella I of Castile.
La Isabela was intended to become a permanent Spanish base after Columbus’s first settlement, La Navidad, had been destroyed. The new town included houses, storehouses, a church, a plaza, an arsenal, and Columbus’s residence. Its settlers included sailors, soldiers, craftsmen, clergy, and administrators brought across the Atlantic by the large second-voyage fleet.
The settlement suffered from hunger, disease, internal conflict, and difficult relations with Taíno communities. A first known epidemic to spread from Europe to the Americas occurred there in 1493, and many colonists eventually moved elsewhere on Hispaniola.
La Isabela should not be confused with La Navidad, the earlier fort founded after the first voyage, or Santo Domingo, which Bartholomew Columbus founded later. La Isabela was largely abandoned by about 1500, but its archaeological remains survive as a historic site in the Dominican Republic.