MOLE SAINT-NICOLAS

village, just northeast of Cap Saint-Nicolas, on the northwestern coast of Haiti. Situated on an inlet of the Windward Passage (a strait between Haiti and Cuba), it was the site where Christopher Columbus first landed (Dec. 6, 1492) on the island, which he named La Isla Espaola (taken into English as Hispaniola). Saint-Nicolas was named for the saint on whose day it was discovered. Pop. (1982 prelim.) 1,960.