Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo de Guzmán population 2,061,200 (Metro) (2003), estimated 2,253,437 (Metro) in 2006, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. The Greater Santo Domingo Area(See Also) is considered the most populous metropolis in the Caribbean. The city is located at 18°29′N, 69°55′W in the Caribbean Sea at the mouth of the Ozama River. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World. In 1930 the city of Santo Domingo was almost completely demolished by a tropical hurricane. Dictator Rafael Trujillo, the incumbent at the time, reconstructed the city and named it Ciudad Trujillo after himself. After his assassination in 1961 Ciudad Trujillo became Santo Domingo again. Santo Domingo is within the boundaries of the Distrito Nacional. In 2001 a law was approved making Santo Domingo de Guzmán less than 200 km² in size, making it the smallest administrative division in the country.