03Cities and regions

The Colonial City

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic, with about 1.03 million people in the city proper by the November 2022 census, set on the south coast at the mouth of the Ozama River. It was founded on 5 August 1496, and its institutions moved to the west bank in 1502 on a grid plan that still shapes the colonial quarter. That quarter, Ciudad Colonial, has been a World Heritage Site since 1990 across 106 hectares, with roughly 32 streets and 116 blocks inside walls and towers. Fortaleza Ozama, begun in 1502 and finished around 1508, is among the oldest surviving European military works in the Americas. Nearby rises the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor, the oldest standing cathedral in the Americas, started in 1504 and completed in 1550 with a façade of golden coral stone. On Plaza de España stands the Alcázar de Colón, the first fortified European palace in the New World, built between 1511 and 1514 in a Gothic style with Renaissance touches. Walk the cobbled Calle de las Damas, and give the cathedral and fortress a quiet morning before midday crowds.

About 1.03 million

City population

1496

City founded

1990

UNESCO inscription

0 hectares

Inscribed site area