History of Haiti
Following the arrival of Europeans, La Hispaniola's indigenous population suffered greatly to near extinction, in possibly the worst case of depopulation in the Americas. A commonly accepted hypothesis attributes the high mortality of this colony in part to European diseases to which the natives had no immunity. A small number of Taínos were able to survive and set up villages elsewhere. Spanish interest in Hispaniola began to wane in the 1520s, as more lucrative gold and silver deposits were found in Mexico and South America. Thereafter, the population of Spanish Hispaniola grew at a slow pace.
Hispaniolan hutia
Five of the seven species in this genus are known only by skeletal remains, often found in association with human kitchen middens. These five species probably disappeared by the seventeenth century because of excessive hunting by people. "P. aedium" and "P. hylaeum" have been greatly reduced in range and numbers and are threatened by deforestation, hunting, and predation by the introduced small Asian mongoose ("Herpestes auropunctatus"). The human population of Hispaniola is increasing, most of the island's forest cover is being cleared for agriculture, and hutias are killed whenever encountered.