Isla Beata

Length 9km
Width 4km
Area 27 km²
Population (uninhabited)

Beata Island is an uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea, south of the Greater Antilles island of Hispaniola.  It has an area of 27km ², making it the second largest island in the Dominican Republic and belonging to the province of Pedernales.

The triangular-shaped and nearly flat island is situated about 7km southwest of Cabo Beata, the southernmost point of Hispaniola.  However, it does not represent the southernmost territory of the Dominican Republic, as a few kilometers to the southwest there are the islands Felseilande, Alto Velo and Los Frailes.
The island was discovered in 1494, on Christopher Columbus’s second voyage to Europe and was originally populated by Taiíno. On Isla Beata up to the 19th century there were cattle to supply provisions to mainly Spanish ships on their way to and from the South American continent.  From about 1870 until the 1960s on the north coast of the island they operated salt mines. Today, the uninhabited island is occasionally visited by fishermen.