Show anro DOMI me rm ya 1 mw y ai v u ax owr f ww ama Vy ai ai remains of a celba tree inSanto in santo domingo to which columbua Columb tA moored his arreg prepared Pie pared red by national Nalon sd geographic society washington v sh ington D C service till dark unmarked santo domingo harbor into which columbus three diminutive vessels sailed in 1492 soon will be lighted by a new lighthouse a memorial to the great discoverer plans have already been chosen from those submitted by architects representing the united states and several countries of europe although now modernized santo domingo still retains much of its early spanish aspect oldest in t the e new world and first to be established by white men in america 11 are phrases of inevitable recurrence in any descriptive list of the historic buildings and ruins of this ancient el aty t Y the ministry of foreign affairs and other departments of the dominican dominica 11 government occupy the old colonial palace of government a spacious structure that was venerable ion long before the first buildings rose at jamestown va surmounting a bluff which commands the entrance to the inner harbor rises the ancient tower of humane homage unshaken through the centuries this pioneer outpost of new world conquest seems to dream of the golden age when it guarded the key city of the far flung empire of spain in america in the th tower etower Is a small barred aperture that sometimes Is pointed ou on as the window of the cell in which columbus was imprisoned before helne beina sent back to spain in chains a state ment that cannot be true since colum bus imprisonment tool took place in when the city was situated on the op cosite bank of the ozama river the same hurricane that desi destroyed royed the home bome hund fleet in 1502 so da damaged aged tire the city that it was decided to t rebuild it on the higher western SI side e of the ozama the site it now occue occupies es house of the admiral of the buildings now in ruins one of the most interesting is the castle of diego colon or louse house of the ad miral the ancestral home of the columbus family in america its construction st was begun in 1509 when diego columbus Io lumbus second admiral and son of the discoverer came to santo domingo as governor of the colony the house was occupied by members of the columbus family until the death of another diego great grandson of the discoverer and last of the direct line of tits male descendants although the houe of the admiral has been allowed to fall into ruins with its destruction further hastened by the vandalism of treasure seekers it historic walls will bear mute testimony to its former magnificence it was to this and other pretentious mansions of the city that the chron icier oviedo referred I 1 when in a letter to the king of spain he sald said that his royal highness often lodged in palaces s far inferior to those of santo domingo ond and added that he considered the city superior to any in spain in its J location beauty and arrangement J flati years after its founding A santo domingo 0 O had passed the apex of ibus its first glory interest in the new colony was eclipsed by desire for fur w er conquest and its meteoric rise was almost equaled ty by the rapidity of its decline from a goal atto domingo became a base for expeditions farther westward cortez pizarro and ponce de leon were only a few of the gentlemen adventurers who sailed out of the mouth of the ozama with their eyes strained for the glitter of gold on the western horizon by 1580 the power of santo domingo had so waned that the capital fell an easy prey kosir to sir francis drake and a ransom was extorted by meth amacki smacking ng of the torture ch chamber timber each E ach day proscribed buildings were e demolished demoi shed until about a third of the city lay in ruins then the citizens managed to scrape agether og ether a going away present amounting to about 30 with which drake took his leave after hanging a few prominent citizens by way of valediction of less stern caliber were the warriors of the admiral penn expedition which in 1055 1655 was sent to the island by cromwell with the object of gaining permanent possession of the colony landing on the coast west of santo domingo city the english forces were met by determined resistance in their advance on the capital and were soon glad to leave Hi and regain some prestige by seizing the more defenseless colony of jamaica battle of the crabs according to legend the defenders of santo domingo were aided by strange allies and along the beach near jaina the site of the traditional battle of aralis crabs Is still pointed out the story runs that the invading forces encamped here one night with their nerves on edge from constant ambuscades ambus cades and surprise attacks they mistook the clattering of the large number of land crabs hereabout for the hoof bents beats of charging cavalry and they were soon retreating pell mell between 1730 and 1740 the population of the capital fell to about five hundred but fifty years later it was wag again riding on one of its high tides oi of greatness as a spanish colonial city only to be overtaken within a decade by another period of adversity wow now after more than four centuries of varying fortunes and despite siege earthquake and tropical hurricane the brave old city stands defiantly at the mouth of the ozama a little bewildered perhaps as if undecided whether definitely to capitulate to the march of modern progress or wait patiently a little longer for gall gal galleons leons ons long overdue in the last thirty years the capital cit city has spread far beyond the limits of the old town ashes of columbus there the chief pride of the dominicans Is their faith that the ashes of christopher columbus rest within their cathedral at santo domingo in 1795 1705 spain having ceded santo domingo to the french removed what its officials believed to be the ashes of the great discoverer to havana upon pon the evacuation of cuba by spain in 1808 1898 the spanish government moved the havana remains to seville spain but in 1877 while the santo domingo C cathedral was being remodeled another vault containing a leaden casket was found As soon as the casket surface appeared everything was sealed and in the afternoon the president and his cabinet the mam members of the diplomatic corps the bishops and apostolic delegate and many others assembled to witness the completion of the excavation and the opening of the casket outside and inside were found inscriptions script ions which bear alike the name and the titles of christopher columbus all present including even the spanish consul joined in a notarial of the circumstances of the opening of the vault and casket and the description of their contents the late american minister thomas 0 dawson pronounced the evidence complete arid and the late american secretary of state philander 0 knox knos on his visit to santo domingo in 1012 declared that any impartial court would sustain the contention that all that Is mortal of the founder of the new world rests within the cathedral at santo domingo one of the most tragic experiences in the history of santo domingo occurred in the afternoon of september 3 when a hurricane swept over the capital outside the walls of the stricken city the devastation was practically complete inside the walls 70 per cent of the buildings were damaged and practically all of the smaller homes were destroyed upwards of two thousand people were killed and six thousand were injured |