TORTUGA ISLAND

French le De La Tortue, Caribbean island off the northern coast of Haiti opposite Port-de-Paix. European adventurers settled Tortuga (Spanish: Turtle) in 1629, in conjunction with trying to establish a foothold on the neighbouring island of Hispaniola (now comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Known as filibusters and buccaneers, these Brethren of the Coast harassed Spanish shipping. Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Spaniards, in turn, dominated Tortuga until the French gained permanent possession in 1665. In the 1880s France, Britain, and the United States considered the island, which is 20 miles (32 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide, strategically important, but thereafter it became of little value either in international affairs or in the Haitian economy. On its highest point is the small village of Lan Palmiste. Pop. (1982 prelim.) 22,080.