City North America
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic, on an island in the Caribbean Sea. Its old town is more than 500 years old.
Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic, at the mouth of the Ozama River on the south coast of the island of Hispaniola. It was founded in 1498, and UNESCO calls its Colonial City the first permanent establishment of the 'New World'. At the 2022 census, 1,029,110 people lived in its National District.
Santo Domingo, first set up on the east bank of the Ozama in 1496 and founded by Bartholomew Columbus in 1498 (UNESCO), was given a grid plan in 1502 that became a model for town planners across the Americas. Capital of the independent Dominican Republic from 1844, its National District counted 1,029,110 people at the 2022 census, within an urban area of 2,752,784.
Photo: Jjc09, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic. The country shares the island of Hispaniola, in the Caribbean Sea.
Santo Domingo is the biggest city in the country.
Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic, at the mouth of the Ozama River on the south coast of the island of Hispaniola, UNESCO says.
At the census of 10 November 2022, 1,029,110 people lived in the National District, the city's central municipality. The whole urban area of Santo Domingo, which spreads into neighboring municipalities, had 2,752,784 people, far more than Santiago de los Caballeros, the next largest city, with 612,595.
Oficina Nacional de Estadística (via City Population): the Distrito Nacional, which since 2001 covers only the municipality of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, had 913,540 people in 2002, 965,040 in 2010 and 1,029,110 at the census of 10 November 2022. Among 'Major Cities' (2022), Santo Domingo counts 2,752,784, ahead of Santiago de los Caballeros (612,595) and Los Alcarrizos (282,799).
Universalis: capital of the independent Dominican Republic from 1844; the agglomeration had 2,800,000 people in 2006.
- Country
- Dominican Republic (capital since 1844)
- People in the National District (census, 10 November 2022)
- 1,029,110
- Santo Domingo urban area (same census)
- 2,752,784
- Setting
- at the mouth of the Ozama River, on the south coast of Hispaniola
Towers and the sea
Look at all the tall buildings and green trees! Far away you can see the blue sea.
This photo was taken in December 2010 from the top of the Novocentro tower, looking southwest over the city, the photographer wrote. Apartment and office blocks of many colors stand among green trees, and tall towers rise here and there.
On the horizon is the blue Caribbean Sea. The city's oldest part, the Colonial City, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Commons: 'Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) taken atop Novocentro tower viewing the city to the southwest 2010', own work by Jjc09, released into the public domain; description: a picture atop Novocentro tower viewing the city to the southwest.
In the picture: apartment and office blocks in white, pink and cream; low buildings with flat roofs; streets with cars and a large parking lot; many trees; a tall slender tower at left and a group of high-rise towers at right; the sea on the horizon. UNESCO: the Colonial City (106 ha, 32 streets, 116 blocks) was inscribed in 1990.
- Photo
- the city to the southwest, from the top of the Novocentro tower, December 2010
- Colonial City of Santo Domingo
- UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, 106 ha
- Los Tres Ojos National Park
- an open-air limestone cave, about 10 km east-northeast of the city's Wikidata point (Wikidata)
A city of firsts
Santo Domingo is very old. It was built more than 500 years ago, with straight streets that cross like a checkerboard.
Santo Domingo was first set up on the east bank of the Ozama River in 1496 and founded in 1498 by Bartholomew Columbus, UNESCO says. In 1502 it moved to the west bank and was laid out on a grid, like a checkerboard. That plan became a model for almost all town planners in the Americas.
UNESCO says Santo Domingo had the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas. In 1844 it became the capital of the independent Dominican Republic.
UNESCO (Colonial City of Santo Domingo, 526): originally established on the east side of the Ozama in 1496, the city was founded by Bartholomew Columbus in 1498; in 1502 Governor Nicolas de Ovando moved its institutions to the west bank and gave it a grid pattern from the Plaza Mayor, a layout that became a reference for almost all the town planners of the New World. It was the seat of the first institutions in the Americas, including the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university.
Universalis: until the 19th century it was a small town, a stopover for coastal traders in hides and timber; capital of the independent Dominican Republic from 1844; the sugar economy of the late 19th century made it the country's undisputed economic capital. A hurricane destroyed much of the city in 1930, and new plans opened broad tree-lined avenues.
- Founded
- 1498, by Bartholomew Columbus (first set up on the east bank in 1496)
- Grid plan
- from 1502, on the west bank: a model for town planners in the Americas
- Capital of the independent Dominican Republic
- from 1844
Metro, port and airport
Santo Domingo has metro trains. Big ships come to a port west of the city.
Santo Domingo has the country's most modern infrastructure, Universalis says. The port of Haina, west of the city, handles two-thirds of the Dominican Republic's imports and three-quarters of its exports.
The Santo Domingo Metro opened on 30 January 2009, according to Wikidata. Las Américas International Airport lies about 28 kilometers east of the city's center point on Wikidata. Along the seafront, called the malecón, new tall buildings have gone up.
Universalis: Santo Domingo has the country's most modern facilities and infrastructure; the port of Haina, west of the city, receives two-thirds of the country's imports and handles three-quarters of national exports; new districts of skyscrapers, often hotels, have been built along the malecón (seafront).
Wikidata (from the city's point, Q34820): Santo Domingo Metro (Q1345375), official opening 30 January 2009, its point 4.77 km ENE; Colonial City of Santo Domingo (Q2470834) 5.72 km ENE; Los Tres Ojos National Park (Q6683320) 9.98 km ENE; Las Américas International Airport (Q1062676) 28.42 km E.
- Santo Domingo Metro
- opened 30 January 2009 (Wikidata)
- Port of Haina
- west of the city: two-thirds of the country's imports and three-quarters of its exports
- Las Américas International Airport
- about 28 km east of the city's Wikidata point (Wikidata)
Warm all year, with a long rainy season
Santo Domingo is warm all year. From May to October, lots of rain falls.
The World Meteorological Organization's averages for 1961 to 1990 show warm weather all year: average daily highs stay between 29.2 °C and 31.5 °C, and lows between 19.6 °C and 22.9 °C.
About 1,450 millimeters of rain fall in a year. The rainiest months run from May to October, with May the wettest at 187.7 millimeters; March is the driest, with 53.8.
WMO World Weather Information Service, Santo Domingo (18.48° N, 69.92° W), 1961–1990: mean daily maximum 29.2 °C (January, February) to 31.5 °C (August); mean daily minimum 19.6 °C (January) to 22.9 °C (June). Rainfall sums to 1,447.1 mm; May to October bring 1,017.5 mm, with May (187.7 mm), October (186.8 mm) and September (180.9 mm) the wettest months and March (53.8 mm) the driest; 115.4 rain days a year (at least 1 mm).
The WMO table for La Romana, whose station point is about 100 km east on the same coast, has the same seasons with less rain.
- Average daily highs (WMO, 1961–1990)
- 29.2 °C (January, February) to 31.5 °C (August)
- Average daily lows (same normals)
- 19.6 °C (January) to 22.9 °C (June)
- Rain in a year (sum of the monthly normals)
- about 1,450 mm
Work, study and visitors
Many visitors come to see Santo Domingo's old town. Students go to the city's universities.
Today Santo Domingo makes its living from free industrial zones, where factories make goods for export, and from tourism, Universalis says. It is also the country's center of government, learning and the arts, with about ten university campuses.
The city has grown fast: about 30,000 people lived there in 1920, 200,000 in 1950 and about 2.8 million in the whole urban area in 2006.
Universalis: the city's prosperity rests today on free industrial zones and tourism; it is the political, intellectual and artistic capital, with about ten public and private university campuses. Population: 30,000 in 1920, 75,000 in 1935, 200,000 in 1950 and 2,800,000 for the agglomeration in 2006. The carefully preserved old town, with its early-16th-century cathedral (built 1521–1541), many government buildings and colonial houses, draws many tourists.
- Economy
- free industrial zones and tourism
- Universities
- about ten public and private campuses
- Growth
- 30,000 people (1920), 75,000 (1935), 200,000 (1950)
Santo Domingo on the map
Find the Caribbean Sea on the globe. Santo Domingo is on the south coast of the island of Hispaniola.
Santo Domingo lies at about 18.5° north, on the south coast of Hispaniola, where the Ozama River reaches the Caribbean Sea.
Measured from the city's center point on Wikidata, the Colonial City is about 5.7 kilometers east-northeast, Los Tres Ojos National Park about 10 kilometers east-northeast, and Las Américas International Airport about 28 kilometers east.
Santo Domingo lies at about 18.47° N and 69.90° W (Natural Earth point, 3.75 km ENE of the Wikidata point). From the Wikidata point (Q34820): Santo Domingo Metro 4.77 km ENE; Colonial City 5.72 km ENE; Los Tres Ojos National Park 9.98 km ENE; Las Américas International Airport 28.42 km E. The WMO station point is 2.58 km NE; the photo's recorded position 1.33 km NNE.
- Latitude
- about 18.5° north
- Longitude
- about 69.9° west
- Island
- Hispaniola, south coast
Amazing facts
-
Santo Domingo's streets were laid out like a checkerboard more than 500 years ago.
In 1502 Santo Domingo was laid out on a grid, and UNESCO says that plan became a model for almost all town planners in the Americas.
UNESCO: the checkerboard layout from the Plaza Mayor (1502) later became a reference for almost all the town planners of the New World.
-
Santo Domingo had the first university in the Americas.
UNESCO says Santo Domingo was the site of the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas.
UNESCO: after 1492, Santo Domingo became the site of the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas.
-
Ships carry most of the country's goods through a port next to Santo Domingo.
The port of Haina, west of Santo Domingo, handles three-quarters of the Dominican Republic's exports, Universalis says.
Universalis: the port of Haina receives two-thirds of the country's imports and handles three-quarters of national exports.
-
Near Santo Domingo there is a park with an open-air cave.
Los Tres Ojos National Park, an open-air limestone cave, lies about 10 kilometers from the city's center point, Wikidata shows.
Wikidata: Los Tres Ojos National Park (Q6683320), an open-air limestone cave, 9.98 km ENE of the city's point.
Words to know
- capital
- the city where a country's government works
- grid plan
- a town layout where straight streets cross at right angles, like a checkerboard
- colonial
- from the time when a land was ruled by a faraway country
- World Heritage Site
- a place UNESCO lists as important for all people to protect
- free zone
- an area where factories can bring in and send out goods with fewer taxes
- census
- an official count of all the people in a place
Discovery challenge
-
Santo Domingo is the capital of which country?
Santo Domingo is the capital of which Caribbean country?
Since 1844 Santo Domingo has been the capital of which country?
- Dominican Republic
- Dominica
- Cuba
Show the answer
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic!
The Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic.
-
On which island is Santo Domingo?
Santo Domingo is on the south coast of which island?
UNESCO places the Colonial City on the south coast of which island?
- Hispaniola
- Jamaica
- Puerto Rico
Show the answer
Hispaniola
Hispaniola!
Hispaniola.
Hispaniola, at the mouth of the Ozama.
-
When was Santo Domingo founded?
In which year was Santo Domingo founded?
UNESCO says Bartholomew Columbus founded the city in which year?
- 1498
- 1798
- 1898
Show the answer
1498
1498!
1498.
1498 (after a first settlement on the east bank in 1496).
-
What shape are the old town's streets?
How were Santo Domingo's streets laid out in 1502?
Which kind of town plan, adopted in 1502, became a model across the Americas?
- A grid, like a checkerboard
- A spiral
- A star
Show the answer
A grid, like a checkerboard
A checkerboard grid!
A grid of straight streets.
A grid (checkerboard) plan from the Plaza Mayor.
-
Which month is the wettest in Santo Domingo?
In the WMO averages, which month gets the most rain?
WMO 1961–1990: which month has the highest rainfall, 187.7 mm?
- May
- March
- January
Show the answer
May
May!
May.
May (187.7 mm), just ahead of October (186.8 mm).
Nearby places
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Natural wonder
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a Caribbean island built from pieces of old volcanic island chains and ocean crust, squeezed together where two plates of Earth's crust meet. Major faults cross it, mountains rise to about 3,100 meters at Pico Duarte, and a salty lake in a deep valley is home to crocodiles and rare iguanas.
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Landmark
Sans-Souci Palace
Sans-Souci Palace stands near the village of Milot in northern Haiti. It opened in 1813 as the home and government center of King Henry I, with gardens, pools and fountains. An earthquake in 1842 badly damaged it, and since 1982 it has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Cap-Haïtien
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San Juan
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Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca
The Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca is a stone fortress on a rocky headland at the mouth of Santiago de Cuba Bay. UNESCO says it has guarded the entrance to the bay since 1638, and it is built in a series of terraces that climb the cliffs.
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Oranjestad
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Natural wonder
Caribbean Sea
The US National Hurricane Center counts the Caribbean Sea as part of the Atlantic basin. Along the coast of Belize lies the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere, UNESCO says. Far below, in the Cayman Trough, the sea floor is slowly spreading apart, and scientists have found hot springs there almost 5,000 meters down.
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Explore next
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Country
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic covers the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti. It has the highest mountain and the lowest lake in the West Indies, sandy beaches, and Santo Domingo, the oldest European-founded city in the Americas. The 2022 census counted about 10.8 million people.
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Havana
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Panama City
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Landmark
Sans-Souci Palace
Sans-Souci Palace stands near the village of Milot in northern Haiti. It opened in 1813 as the home and government center of King Henry I, with gardens, pools and fountains. An earthquake in 1842 badly damaged it, and since 1982 it has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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City
Cap-Haïtien
Cap-Haïtien, also called Le Cap, is a port in the north of Haiti and the main town of the North department. The encyclopedia Larousse says the French founded it in 1670. Haiti's 2003 census counted 111,094 people in the city.
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San Juan
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Anchorage
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Atlanta
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Santo Domingo on the south coast of Hispaniola.
- Describe a grid town plan and why other cities copied it.
- Tell the difference between a city's central district and its whole urban area.
- Read a climate table and find the rainy season.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might a grid of straight streets be easy to plan and to find your way in?
- Why do you think people protect very old parts of cities?
- Why might a city build its port and its airport outside the center?
Try at home or in class
- Grid town: on squared paper, draw a town with a central square and straight streets, and number the blocks.
- Rain chart: plot Santo Domingo's twelve monthly rain totals and color the rainy months.
- Timeline strip: mark 1496, 1498, 1502, 1844 and 1990 on a paper strip.
Key vocabulary: capital, grid plan, colonial, World Heritage Site, free zone, census
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Natural Earth vector data , Natural Earth (NACIS) (Public domain)
- Colonial City of Santo Domingo , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Saint-Domingue, ville , Encyclopaedia Universalis
- Dominican Republic: Regions, Provinces, Major Cities & Localities , City Population (Thomas Brinkhoff), from the Oficina Nacional de Estadística
- Santo Domingo: climatological information , World Meteorological Organization, World Weather Information Service
- La Romana: climatological information , World Meteorological Organization, World Weather Information Service
- File:Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) taken atop Novocentro tower viewing the city to the southwest 2010.jpg (Jjc09, December 2010) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Picture credits
- Photo: Jjc09, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · source