Paul & Tara Visit the National Parks: Santo Domingo

Today's blog post features our visit to Santo Domingo, the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic.

Founded in 1496 by the Spanish Empire, Santo Domingo is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas. The city is home to many "firsts" in the New World: the first cathedral, the first university, the first castle, the first monastery, and the first fortress.

We took a bus from our resort in Punta Cana to the city. It was about a 3-hour drive.

typical Dominican countryside

approaching Santo Domingo

The city itself has a population of 1.03 million, and the metro area is nearly 4.3 million.

Faro a Colon (the Columbus lighthouse) was built in 1992 to mark the 500th anniversary of Columbus' inaugural voyage to the Americas.

We took a guided tour of the colonial center of the city.

the Ozama River empties into the Caribbean Sea at Santo Domingo

narrow cobblestone streets of the colonial center of the city

Christopher Columbus sailed along the north shore of this island, which he called "Hispaniola", during his first voyage in 1492. The indigenous Taino people referred to the island as kiskeya ("mother of all lands") or ayiti ("land of the high mountains"). On his second voyage, Columbus circumnavigated the island. On the third voyage, Christopher Columbus' brother, Bartholomew, built a settlement on the southern shore, which would be named Santo Domingo in 1496. The town was named in honor of Saint Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, and the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientists.

In June 1502, Santo Domingo was nearly destroyed in a hurricane. The governor, Nicolas de Ovando, rebuilt the town. To better protect the city, he constructed a stone fortification, Fortaleza Ozama. This was the first fortress built in the Americas. Completed in 1508, it is still standing to this day.

looking across the Ozama River from the fortress

Columbus Lighthouse on the horizon (on the left)

In 1509, Columbus' son, Diego, was appointed the Viceroy and admiral of the colony. His home, the Alcazar de Colon, is the first castle in the Americas. Unfortunately, extensive renovations were being done on the building at the time of our visit, and it was not open.

our tour guide

In 1521, a slave revolt in the city broke out and was subsequently supressed by the Spanish Empire. It was the first recorded slave rebellion in the Americas.

In 1586, the English privateer, Sir Francis Drake, captured the city and held it for ransom. Spain paid the hefty ransom and re-occupied the city, but at a heavy price. Spanish control of Hispaniola had been greatly weakened. In the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, the Spanish government recognized France's claim on the western third of the island, creating the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now present-day Haiti).

In the 1795 Treaty of Basel, Spain ceded the entire island to the French Empire. In 1804, a slave rebellion successfully overthrew the French authorities (the Haitian Revolution), and the Empire of Haiti, under the rule of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, was established.

In 1809, the Spanish Empire reclaimed the eastern two-thirds of the island (including Santo Domingo). However, in 1821, a Criollo uprising, led by Jose Nunez de Caceres, overthrew the Spanish Crown and established the Republic of Spanish Haiti, which was annexed by the Empire of Haiti two months later. Finally, on February 27, 1844, Juan Pablo Duarte gained independence from Haiti and the Dominican Republic (with its capital at Santo Domingo) was born. Duarte is considered the founding father of the nation.