The ancient Caribbean seaport of Santo Domingo is a city of firsts, the first permanent capital of the new territories discovered by Christopher Columbus, the first to have Spanish coinage, a university, a cathedral, a fort, a monastery, a hospital and a palace. It was also here that Madrid's rulers in 1512 set up the Spanish colonies’ first royal appellate court, the highest level of its judicial system. 

Columbus discovered the island of Hispaniola in December 1492, and established its first settlement, Navidad. Later, he founded another community, Isabela (in honor of the Spanish queen) in the island’s northwest, and made it his temporary capital. In August 1496, Columbus’s brother, Bartolome, who administered Hispaniola in Columbus’s absence, founded the city of  Nueva Isabela on the current site of Santo Domingo and shifted the capital there. The new town was officially christened Santo Domingo in 1498 by a decree of King Ferdinand.  

The seaport soon became the center of Spanish activity in the Greater Antilles and served as Columbus’s base of exploration for 17 months. Later, Spanish conquistadores used Santo Domingo as the jumping-off point to explore and conquer other lands. From Santo Domingo's harbor, Ponce de Leon sailed to Puerto Rico, Hernan Cortes launched his attack on Mexico, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa set out on the journey that discovered the Pacific Ocean and Diego de Velazquez went off to settle Cuba. 

In recognition of the city’s crucial role in the Spanish colonization period and its many "firsts," the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proclaimed the Colonial City of Santo Domingo a World Heritage Site in 1990. 

Today, 509 years after its founding, Santo Domingo’s old world charisma and Latin charm have blended well with the modern era. The result is a cosmopolitan city of 2 million that offers the best of old and new.  

Santo Domingo's numerous museums, restored historic sites and the old city’s cobblestone streets take the traveler back in time. Its parks and plazas invite the traveler to linger. Its ancient churches, cathedral, coastal fortifications and reconstructed Spanish-government buildings tempt travelers to linger and discover more of the past. 

But travelers can disregard history entirely, if they so choose, and come solely to enjoy the city's modern amenities – its music venues, fine dining, casinos and five-star hotels. The city's principal waterfront thoroughfare, El Malecon, is a bustling drive that winds seamlessly through Santo Domingo's ancient neighborhoods and modern-day cityscape of high-rise hotels and office buildings, restaurants, outdoor cafes and shops. All front the turquoise-blue Caribbean Sea, with its sandy, coconut palm-dotted coastline. 

Until the 1970s, Santo Domingo was the only place in the country tourists visited. While it remains a big attraction, other major tourist centers have opened: Puerto Plata in the north and the entire Caribbean coastline to the east of Santo Domingo, including its closest beachs at Boca Chica, La Romana and Punta Cana. 

The Quincentennial of the discovery of the West Indies, celebrated throughout the world in1992, was marked in the Dominican capital with the official dedication and lighting of a massive monument to Christopher Columbus. The 800-foot-high stone and marble structure is in the shape of a crucifix, and a system of powerful light beams project the image of a cross in the darkened skies. 

At the heart of the monument is Columbus’s tomb, containing the explorer’s remains. It is surrounded by chapels and museums housing historical treasures and a representative exhibition of all the countries of the Americas.  

Courtesy of the National Hotel and Restaurant Association and the Tourism Promotion Council