This web page gathers useful links to records of the early residents of the island of Española (now called Hispaniola, the territory of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). The island was the initial home for many Spanish families, some for at least a new generation or more. I am particularly interested in those that went on to live in Mexico.

There are two types of records:

1. Passengers arriving on the island
2. Events on the island

• A key resource, which is not online, is the book "Pasajeros a la Española 1492-1530" by Vilma Benzo de Ferrer. The book includes arrivals on the island and events of residents of the island.

• Catálogo de pasajeros a Indias : durante los siglos XVI, XVII y XVIII
  These are published volumes with indexes of the original records (see the PARES links below for images of the originals). Volumes I-III covering 1509-1559 were published in the 1940s. Volumes IV-VII covering 1560-1599 were published in the 1980s. Only the two parts of volume 5 (1567-1577) are online.
  • Brief Overviews of the Volumes
    • 1948, p 288 of "The Hispanic American Historical Review" - in English, insight into volumes I-III
    • PARES web page on the volumes - in Spanish, insight into all volumes I-VII
  • The Volumes
    • Volume I (1509-1534)
    • Volume II (1535-1538)
    • Volume III (1539-1559)
    • Volume IV (1560-1566)
    • Volume V (1557-1577)
      • Part I (1557-1574)
      • Part II (1575-1577 and index to both parts)
    • Volume VI (1578- )
    • Volume VII ( -1599)

• Records on the PARES (Portal de Archivos Españoles) website - Subject - Pasajeros a Indias
  • PARES Online images of original records of the Archivo General de Indias with related authority Pasajeros a Indias - alphabetical by title (3,910 items)
    • Libro II. Asientos de Pasajeros 1526-1534
    • CONTRATACION,5447,N.1,R.21 - in 1685
  • PARES Online images of original records of the Archivo General de Simancas with elated authority Pasajeros a Indias - alphabetical by title (15 items)
  • PARES Information about records of the Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid with related authority Pasajeros a Indias - alphabetical by title (1 item)

This is the critical missing link between families in Mexico that came from the island and the passenger lists. Without knowing who the parents of someone in a Mexican record shown as a "natural" of the island, you have no way of knowing whether someone in a passenger list is your ancestor or not. I would really like to know where the baptism and marriage records of the island are for the period 1492-1600.

• A key resource, which is not online, is the book "Pasajeros a la Española 1492-1530" by Vilma Benzo de Ferrer. The book includes arrivals on the island and events of residents of the island.