Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, population 2,061,200 (2003), is the capital of the Dominican Republic. The city is located at {{coor dm|18|29|N|69|55|W|}}, on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World.

Related Topics:
2003 - Dominican Republic - Caribbean Sea - Ozama River

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The city was founded between the years 1496 and 1498, as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, by Bartolomeo Columbus (Bartolomé Colón), brother of Christopher Columbus, on the eastern bank of the Ozama River, and extended to the western bank in 1502 by the governor Fray Nicolás de Ovando. The city served as a model for other colonial cities of the New World. In 1508, Ferdinand II of Aragon gave the city the coat of arms with the emblem of "First City of the Indies."

Related Topics:
Bartolomeo Columbus - Christopher Columbus - New World - Ferdinand II of Aragon

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Inside the colonial city, the first citadel (Fortaleza Ozama), the first hospital (hospital de San Nicolás de Bari), the first cathedral (Primada de América), and the first monastery (Monasterio de San Francisco) in the Western Hemisphere were built.

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In 1538, construction began on the oldest university in the New World. It was named Santo Tomás de Aquino, in honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and still survives as the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD).

Related Topics:
Saint Thomas Aquinas - Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo

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A tomb in the cathedral was reputed to be the final resting place of Christopher Columbus, but the remains (the authenticity of which is disputed, with Spain also claiming to have a set of Columbus's bones) were moved to the Faro A Colón (Columbus Lighthouse) in 1990.

Related Topics:
Christopher Columbus - Spain

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The city was sacked by Sir Francis Drake in 1586, and was almost completely destroyed by a hurricane in 1930. It was rebuilt and renamed Ciudad Trujillo, after dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, but the original name was restored almost immediately after his assassination in 1961.

Related Topics:
Sir Francis Drake - Ciudad Trujillo - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo

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Santo Domingo is a sister city of New York City.

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