Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic. Founded by the Spanish in 1496, it is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas. It was the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World. The city’s Colonial Zone was declared as a World heritage site by UNESCO in 1998.
About Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in brief
Santo Domingo is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic. Founded by the Spanish in 1496, it is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas. It was the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World. The city is coterminous with the boundaries of the Distrito Nacional, itself bordered on three sides by SantoDomingo Province. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 2,908,607, when including the metropolitan area. It is the cultural, financial, political, commercial and industrial center of the Republic of Dominican Republic, with the country’s most important industries being located within the city. It also serves as the chief seaport of the country, and the harbor at the mouth of the Ozama River accommodates the largest vessels. The original layout of the city and a large portion of its defensive wall can still be appreciated today throughout the Colonial Zone, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The first major slave revolt occurred in 1522, when slaves led an uprising on the sugar plantation of Diego Columbus, son of Christopher Columbus. In 1586, Francis Drake captured the city from England and held it for ransom, which resulted in the depopulation of the island in the early 17th century. An expedition sent by Oliver Cromwell sent out in 1586 sent 1,200 Englishmen, French, and Flemings out of prison, besides 800 of the countrey people, out of the capital of Santo Domingos.
The town was known as the \”Gateway to the Caribbean\” and the chief town in Hispaniola from then on. In 1495 it was renamed in honor of Saint Dominic, and was called Ciudad Trujillo from 1936 to 1961, after the dictator, Rafael Trujillos, named the capital after himself. The city’s Colonial Zone was declared as a World heritage site by UNESCO in 1998. It has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site three times. It contains the first university, cathedral, castle, monastery, and fortress in the new world. It’s also the site of the first cathedral, cathedral and monastery in the Old World, built in the 12th century by the Spaniards. It had a population of 1,800,000 at the start of the 19th century, and 2,000,000 by the end of the century. It now has 2,900,000 people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. Its port handles both heavy passenger and freight traffic, and it has a high-temperature year-round climate, with cooler breezes during winter time. Its harbor is the largest in the region, with temperatures high year round, with lower breezes in winter time, and high temperatures in the summer time. It lies on the banks of the Omoa River, which runs through the heart of the nation’s largest city, Puerto Rico.
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This page is based on the article Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 01, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
