Portal:Dominican Republic/Selected article/5

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Satellite view of Santo Domingo
Satellite view of Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic and the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population.[1] In 2010, its population was counted as 965,040,[2] rising to 2,908,607 when its surrounding metropolitan area was included.[3] The city is coterminous with the boundaries of the Distrito Nacional ("D.N.", "National District"), itself bordered on three sides by Santo Domingo Province.

Founded by Bartholomew Columbus in 1496, on the east bank of the Ozama River and then moved by Nicolás de Ovando in 1502 to the west bank of the river, the city is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World. Santo Domingo is the site of the first university, cathedral, castle, monastery, and fortress in the New World. The city's Colonial Zone was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.[4][5] Santo Domingo was called Ciudad Trujillo (Spanish pronunciation: [sjuˈðað tɾuˈxiʝo]), from 1936 to 1961, after the Dominican Republic's dictator, Rafael Trujillo, named the capital after himself. Following his assassination, the city resumed its original designation. (More...)

  1. ^ City Mayors: Local government in the Caribbean
  2. ^ IX Census
  3. ^ "Expansión Urbana de las ciudades capitales de RD: 1988-2010" (in Spanish). Santo Domingo: Oficina Nacional de Estadística. 1 May 2015. ISBN 978-9945-8984-3-9. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  4. ^ Colonial City of Santo Domingo – UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  5. ^ Comisiones Nacionales: UNESCO