The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-10-31
THE CITY OFSAN DOMINGO.
The Site Selected by Christopher
Columbus-The Ancient Town Has a
Curious History.

The Site Selected by CHRISTOPHER
Columbus-The Ancient Town Has a
Curious History.
Santo Domingo is the Oldest city
built by Europeans now standing in
the western hemisphere. 1t was
founded by the brother of Columbus,
and is said by some to have been nam
ed after their father Domenico, and by
others to have received its name
because 1t was OF Sunday that the
ships sent from the north arrived there
-Santo Domingo meaning, "holy
Sunday" Curiously enough, its found
ing was the result of a quarrel.
On the northern shore OF Hispaniola,
as the island of Santo Domingo was
then called, was Isabella, the first
Spanish colony in the New World.
There, n day, a young Spaniard nam
ed Miguel Diaz, one Of the followers OF
Columbus stabbed q companion in a
fight; and afraid of the anger of
Columbus, he fled into the mountains
and went toward the south. After
wandering for some days, he came to a
river, and following it to where it
emptied into the sea, found a tribo of
Indians called the Ozamas. They had
heard of the wonderful white men who
had landed on their island, and they
received him with awe, but with kind
ness and hospitality, and took him be-
fore their queen, Zameaca. who was
famous for her beauty and eentleness'
He had not lived long with them when
Zameaca lost her heart to the fair-fac-
ed Spaniard, and they were married.
For a time all went we'll, but Diaz soon
tired of the simple life, and his wife,
to please him, told him of gold to be
found in the river Jayna, and guided
him to it. Diaz then went back in
haste to Isabella, knowing that the
news Of the discovery would secure
his pardon,-as it did. He guided his
avaricious companion to the golden
stream, and afterward to the mouth of
the Ozama River. There Columbus
chose the place for the town. It was
begun in 1895, and it was called Santo
Domingo.
The Spaniards ill-treated and made
slaves of the simple Indians, and Ia
meaca, seeing the evils she had
brought upon her people, fled to the
mountains and was never heard of
afterward. The new city grew and
prospered until tho year 1902, when it
was entirely destroyed by a frightful
hurricane, and was rebuilt on the other
bank Of the river. There it stands
to day, not much changed from the
Santo Domingo of four centuries
ago.
1t is very curious to go from one OF
our cities, with its new, bright, tall
buildings and it's broad streets alive
with the hum and hustle of business, to
this sleepy old Spanish town, whore
ION o of the earthquakesJ tho
houses are rarely more than one story
high, and are painted various colors-
blue, green, brown, or red where the
narrow streets have sidewalks only
three feet wide, and where nobody is
ever in a hurry; and to remember, as
one walks over the town, that those
streets we're once trodden by Pizarro,
who gathered there the first money
tina enabled him to start ON the eX-
petition that conquered Peru; by
Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico; by
Ponce dc Leon, who discovered Flor
ida by Balboa, tho first European who
saw the Pacific Ocean by Ojeda, who
discovered Venezuela; and by Columbus
himself, and his brothers and his son,
and the companions OF his voyage.-St.
Nicholas.