Key events in the history of Haiti July 7, 2021 GMT A man sits outside of the Little Haiti Cultural Center in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, following the news that Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in an attack on his private residence. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) A man sits outside of the Little Haiti Cultural Center in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, following the news that Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in an attack on his private residence. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Dec. 6. 1492 — Christopher Columbus lands on a Caribbean island that the Indigenous Tainos called Quisqueya. The Spanish enslave the Tainos and rename it Isla Espanola, shortened to Hispaniola.