Santo Domingo (city)

Santo Domingo sän´tō dōmēng´gō , city (1993 pop. 1,609,966), S Dominican Republic, on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River. It is the country's capital, largest city, leading port, and primary commercial center. Founded Aug. 4, 1496, by Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, it may be the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Western Hemisphere. Shortly after its founding it became the base from which Diego de Velázquez set out to conquer Cuba. It was the first seat of Spanish colonial administration in the New World. The city was sacked by Sir Francis Drake in 1586. Santo Domingo was almost totally destroyed by a hurricane in 1930 but was rebuilt and renamed Ciudad Trujillo, after dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo ; the original name was restored in 1961 after his death.

Although replete with historic sites, Santo Domingo today is a city of broad avenues and modern buildings. The cathedral, begun in 1514, is the oldest in the Western Hemisphere; until 1990 it contained the reputed tomb of Christopher Columbus, which was moved to the Columbus Memorial Lighthouse in 1992. Construction of the expensive lighthouse, the world's largest, met with controversy in the poor country, whose native population was largely exterminated after the arrival of Columbus and whose current population is largely of African, not Spanish, descent.

Santo Domingo (formerly Ciudad Trujillo, 1936–61) Capital and chief port of the Dominican Republic, on the s coast of the island, on the River Ozama. Founded in 1496, the city is the oldest continuous European settlement in the Americas. It was the seat of the Spanish viceroys in the early 1500s, and base for the Spaniards' conquering expeditions until it was devastated by an earthquake in 1562. It houses more than a third of the country's population, many of whom work in the sugar industry. Pop. (2002 est.) 2,061,200; 2,799,600 (metro.).

Santo Domingo, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua Nueva Isabela, Ciudad Trujillo Dominican Republic: founded in 1496 on the east bank of the Ozama River by the brother of Christopher Columbus^†, Bartolomeo, as the capital of Spain's first colony in the New World. He named it New Isabela in honour of Isabella (1451–1504), Queen of Castile (1474–1504) and of Aragon (1479–1504). It was destroyed by a hurricane but rebuilt in 1502 on the west bank of the river. Its name was changed to Santo Domingo ‘Holy Sunday’, which at one time was the name of part of the island, because the first settlement was established on a Sunday. In 1936–61 it was called ‘Trujillo City’ after Rafael Trujillo (1891–1961), dictator of the Dominican Republic (1930–61) and officially president (1930–8, 1942–52). The city readopted its previous name when he was assassinated in 1961.