 Many of the inhabitants fought, escaped to the jungle, or fled to the safety of passing Dutch ships.This Spanish action was counterproductive as English, Dutch, and French pirates were now free to establish bases on the island's abandoned northern and western coasts, where wild cattle were now plentiful and free.In 1697, after decades of fighting over the territory, the Spanish ceded the western
part of the island to the French, who henceforth called it Saint-Domingue.