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Santo Domingo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsanto ðoˈmiŋɡo] meaning "Saint Dominic" but verbatim "Holy Sunday"), once known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, known as Ciudad Trujillo between 1936 and 1961, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. [7]
The Distrito Nacional (Spanish pronunciation: [disˈtɾito nasjoˈnal]; D.N.) is a subdivision of the Dominican Republic enclosing the capital Santo Domingo.It is not in any of the provinces, but in practice, it acts as a province on its own.
Hispaniola is the site of one of the first European forts in the Americas, La Navidad (1492–1493), as well as the first settlement La Isabela (1493–1500), and the first permanent settlement, the current capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo (est. 1498).
Its capital, Santo Domingo, was Western Europe's first permanent settlement in, and the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World. For most of its independent history, the nation experienced political turmoil and unrest, suffering through many non-representative and tyrannical governments.
Santo Domingo was initially the political and cultural hub of Spanish presence in the new world, but after a few decades started to decline as the Spaniards focused their attention more on the mainland after conquering Mexico, Peru, and other regions of Latin America. Ciudad Colonial nevertheless remained an important historical site.
The capital, Santo Domingo, is located on the south coast. The Dominican Republic's shores are washed by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south. The Mona Passage, a channel about 130 km wide, separates the country (and Hispaniola) from Puerto Rico. [5]
France took over the part of Hispaniola that is today Haiti. During the colony era, The Dominican Republic acted as a sugar supplier to Spain and France. Many whites moved to the country during this period. In 1496, Santo Domingo was built and became the new capital, and remains the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the Americas ...
In 1498, Bartolome Colon had a fort built on the Ozama River delta, which would later become the first permanent European settlement in the New World (Santo Domingo). The estuary at that time, "teemed with fish and where the Indians raised cassava and yams," according to Floyd.