Hispaniola was visited and named by Christopher Columbus during his first voyage in 1492. The present-day division of the island into two countries - French- and Creole-speaking Haiti and the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic - can be traced to the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, in which Spain recognized French sovereignty over the western third of the island. In 1869, the ruler of the Dominican Republic, by then an independent country, sought to join the United States as a way of dealing with bankruptcy and internal unrest. Secretary of State William H. Seward was in favor of annexation, but the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the treaty of annexation. William Hazard, the author of this work, accompanied a commission sent to the Dominican Republic by the U.S. Congress to investigate conditions in the country. Hazard's book is an account of the commission's travels around the country, supplemented by his research at the British Library. It includes an extensive bibliography of early works on the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as well as a map and numerous illustrations. Hazard was in favor of annexation and thus painted a very favorable picture of the country, which was being portrayed as impoverished and unstable by opponents of annexation.