The principal cities are the capitals of the twelve provinces, and the city of Sanchez. A brief description of these cities follows, with a reference to the other more important towns and villages of each province.
_Santo Domingo de Guzmán_, the capital of the Republic and of the province of the same name, is the oldest city founded by Europeans in the new world, the first city, Isabela, having disappeared a few years after settlement. It was founded by Bartholomew Columbus in 1496 on the east bank of the Ozama River as the capital of the colony, but the small houses constituting the town having been destroyed by a hurricane in 1502 it was transferred to the west bank of the river by order of Governor Ovando. It grew rapidly in population and wealth until it merited the eulogies of Oviedo who wrote to Charles V in 1525 that he did not hesitate to assure that there was not in Spain a city he would prefer whether on account of advantageous and agreeable location, beauty and arrangement of squares and streets or charms of the surrounding country, adding that "their Highnesses oftentimes lodged in palaces which have neither the conveniences, the ample size nor the wealth of some of those in Santo Domingo." By the middle of the sixteenth century the city had passed the zenith of its glory, and its capture by Drake in 1586 and the destruction of the houses about the main plaza was a severe blow. The decline continued rapidly, although in 1655 the city was still strong enough to repel an invasion by Admiral William Penn. In 1684 and 1691 it was visited by destructive earthquakes and in 1700 it was full of ruins among which grew great trees. The lowest ebb was reached about 1737 when the population had fallen to 500 "and," writes Father Valverde, "more than half the buildings of the capital were entirely ruined, and of those still standing two-thirds were uninhabitable or closed and the other third was more than enough for the population. There were houses and lands whose owners were unknown, and of which people took advantage as belonging to the first one who might occupy them, either because there was entire lack of heirs of the owners or because they had emigrated elsewhere." In a few years, however, the tide of fortune turned and the city's rise was as rapid as its decline had been long, until by about the year 1790 it had quite recovered its ancient glory. Another reverse was quick in coming, for the cession to France in 1795 and the revolt of the negroes in French Saint-Domingue drove away the best inhabitants. In 1801 Toussaint l'Ouverture took possession of the city and in 1805 it was successfully held by the French against the siege of the negro emperor Dessalines. This siege was the beginning of a series lasting for a century. In 1809 after a desperate struggle the city was recaptured for Spain by the Dominicans, but from 1822 to 1844 it was in the hands of the Haitians, and abandoned by all the whites who could flee. Since the declaration of Dominican independence in 1844 almost every revolution has involved a siege of the capital. Within the last twenty-five years the city has made rapid strides forward and spread far beyond the old city walls.