Santo Domingo Article

Santo Domingo summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Santo Domingo.

Santo Domingo, City (pop., 2007 est.: 2,154,000), capital of the Dominican Republic. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the island of Hispaniola, at the mouth of the Ozama River. It was founded in 1496 by Christopher Columbus’s brother Bartolomeo as the capital of the first Spanish colony in the New World and is the oldest permanent city established by Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. It was under French control from 1795 to 1809, and it was annexed to Spain in 1861. It became the capital of the Dominican Republic when the country gained independence from Spain in 1865. The city was renamed Ciudad Trujillo in 1936 for Pres. Rafael Trujillo, but it reverted to its original name after his assassination in 1961. It is the commercial and cultural centre of the republic and its principal seaport. Important industries include metallurgy and petrochemicals. It is the reputed site of the tomb of Christopher Columbus.