Captaincy General of Santo Domingo

Origins

Columbus founded La Isabela on the north coast of Hispaniola in 1493, and Santo Domingo was established on the south coast in 1496-98. Under Nicolás de Ovando, governor from 1502, the Taíno chiefdoms were destroyed and the island became the base of Spanish power in the Caribbean.

Rule and society

Santo Domingo received the first Audiencia in the Americas in 1511, the first cathedral and, in 1538, a university. Gold mining using Taíno forced labour gave way to sugar and cattle ranching worked by enslaved Africans. As Spain's attention turned to Mexico and Peru, the colony declined. The 'devastations' of 1605-06 depopulated the north and west to stop smuggling.

Decline and legacy

French buccaneers settled the empty west, which Spain recognised as Saint-Domingue in 1697. By the Peace of Basel in 1795 Spain ceded the rest of the island to France. The former colony later became the Dominican Republic.