Santo Domingo
The Tower of Homage in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. It was built in the early 16th century and was used in the 1950s by the dictator General Rafael Trujillo Molina (1891–1961) to imprison and torture his enemies.
Capital and chief sea port of the Dominican Republic; population (2002) 2,306,100. Industries include food processing, distilling, and tanning. Founded in 1496 by Bartolomeo, brother of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, it is the oldest colonial city in the Americas. Its cathedral was built 1515–40, and contains the tomb of Christopher Columbus.
| Santo Domingo's university dates from 1538, and is the oldest in the Americas. The colonial city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. |
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