Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River, on the south coast of the island. Founded by Bartolomé Colón on August 5,1498, on the eastern bank of the Ozama River and then moved by Nicolás de Ovando in 1502 to the western margin of the same river. Known for being the place of the first European settlement in America, and for being the first seat of the Spanish colonial government in the New World. It is located within the limits of the National District, and the latter in turn is bordered by three parts by the province of Santo Domingo.
It limits to the south with the Caribbean Sea, to the east with the municipality Santo Domingo Este, to the west with Santo Domingo Oeste and to the north with Santo Domingo Norte. Among all they form the Great Santo Domingo whose metropolitan area already exceeds 4 million inhabitants. The city was chosen as the American Capital of Culture in 2010, it has also hosted the Pan American Games of 2003, the Central American and Caribbean Games 1974 and the Caribbean series on several occasions. In Santo Domingo are the first cathedral and the first castle of America. Both located in the Colonial City, an area declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Thanks to this, the city, especially its Historical Center receives approximately one million international visitors each year. Today, Santo Domingo is the largest cultural, financial, political, commercial and industrial center of the Dominican Republic.
Santo Domingo also serves as the main port of the country. One of the ports of the city is at the mouth of the Ozama River and welcomes the largest ships, and is capable of receiving both passenger loads and freight traffic. Santo Domingo took the name of "Ciudad Trujillo" from 1936 to 1961, due to a change made by the dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina. Today, Santo Domingo is the most important metropolis in the country, given its GDP Parity of purchasing power US $ 90,000 million and is also the most populated city in the Caribbean.