Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic. It is situated on the southeast coast of the island of Hispaniola, at the mouth of the Ozama River, and is the oldest permanent city established by Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. The city is also the seat of the oldest Roman Catholic archbishopric in the Americas.

Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, as the capital of the first Spanish colony in the New World. The original city site was located on the left (east) bank of the Ozama River and was called Nueva Isabela in honour of Queen Isabella I of Spain. It was destroyed by a hurricane, however, and was rebuilt in 1502 at its present location on the right bank of the river. It became the starting point of most of the Spanish expeditions of exploration and conquest of the other islands of the West Indies and the adjacent mainland. The colony prospered as the seat of government of the Spanish possessions in the Americas until the conquest of Mexico and Peru, after which its importance declined.

In 1586 Sir Francis Drake, the English buccaneer, sacked the city. In 1655 its inhabitants defeated a British force that had been sent to seize the city. From 1795 to 1809 Santo Domingo was under French domination, and then, after another brief Spanish period, it was conquered by invaders from Haiti, its neighbour to the west on Hispaniola. Independence was proclaimed in 1844, and Santo Domingo became the capital of the new Dominican Republic until the republic’s annexation to Spain in 1861–65. The city has been the Dominican capital since the restoration of independence in 1865. The city’s name, officially changed in 1936 to Ciudad Trujillo in honour of the dictator Rafael Trujillo, was restored after his assassination in 1961.

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Santo Domingo is the industrial, commercial, and financial centre of the country. Its industrial development has been greatly influenced by the construction of hydroelectric dams, which furnish its industries with inexpensive electrical power. The country’s most important industries—such as metallurgy; the manufacture of refrigerators, petrochemicals and plastics, cement, and textiles; and food processing—are located in Santo Domingo. The importance of services, including tourism, to the city’s economy has grown since the late 20th century.

Santo Domingo is also the chief seaport of the Dominican Republic. Its harbour at the mouth of the Ozama River was greatly improved in the 1930s to accommodate the largest vessels, and the port handles both heavy passenger and freight traffic. Roads connect the capital with the rest of the republic. There are no railway lines from the city, except those of the nearby sugar refineries. Two international airports serve the region, one about 10 miles (16 km) north-northeast and the other some 15 miles (24 km) east of the central city.

Santo Domingo claims the oldest university in the Western Hemisphere: the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (founded 1538). The city’s other educational institutions include the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University (1966) and a technological institute (1971). Among the noted cultural institutions are the National Theatre, the music conservatory and the National Symphony Orchestra, the Museum of Dominican Man—important for its pre-Columbian collection—and various public and private libraries, especially the National Library. The two most prominent colonial monuments in Santo Domingo are the cathedral and the palace of Diego Columbus. The cathedral, in Spanish Renaissance style, was built between 1514 and 1542. The Columbus Lighthouse (Faro a Colón) reputedly contains the remains of Christopher Columbus. The historic district of the city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990. The city has numerous parks and green spaces, including the National Botanical Garden, established in 1976. Pop. (2002) urban area, 1,887,586; (2010) urban area, 2,581,827.