The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1894-06-28
sANro DOMINGO THE ANCIENT.
Built Nearly 400 Years AEo, tho Site Hsv
ing Been Chosen by Columbus.

Santo Domingo is the Oldest city
built by Europeans now standing in
the western hemisphere, says writer
in ST. Nicholas. It was founded by the
brother of Columbus, and is said by
some to have been named after their
father, Domenico, and by others to
have received its name because it was
on Sunday that the ship sent from the
north arrived there-Santo Domingo
meaning ~holy Sunday" Curiously
enough, its founding was the result OF
quarrel. On the northern shore OF
Hispaniolo, as the island of Santo Do
mingo was then called. was Isabella,
the first Spanish colony in the new
world. There one day a young Span
lard named Miguel Diaz, one of the
followers of Columbus, stabbed COM
panion in a fight, and, afraid Of the
anger of Columbus, he fed into the
mountains and went toward the south.
After wandering for some days he
came to q river, and following it to
where it empted into the sea found a
tribe of Indians called the Ozamas.
They had heard of the wonderfulwh
men who had landed on their island,
and they received him with awe, but
with kindness and hospitality, and
took him before their queen, Zameaca,
who was famous for her beauty and
gentleness. - 50
He had not lived long with them
when Zameaca lost her heart to tho
fair-faced 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 the 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 discov-
cry would secure his pardon-as it
did. He guided his avaricious COM
panions to the golden stream and aft
erward to the mouth of the Ozama
river There Columbus chose the
place for the town. 1t was began il
1896 and it was called Santo Domingo.
The Spaniards ill-treated and made
slaves of the simple Indians. aud
Zameaca, seeing the evils she had
brought upon her people, fed to the
mountains and was never heard of aft
erward. The new city grew and pros
pered until the year 1902. when it was
entirely destroyed by a frightful hur-
ricana 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- 60 from an
city, with it's new, bright,
tall buildings and its broad streets
alive with the hum and hustle of busi-
ness, to this sleepy old Spanish town,
where ION account of the earthouakes)
the houses are rarely more than one
story high. and are painted various
colors- blue, green. brown or red;
where the narrow streets have side
walks only three feet wide and where
nobody is ever in a hurry; and to re-
member as one walks over the town
that those streets were once trodden
by Pizzaro, who gathered there the
first money that enabled him to start
on the expedition that conquered Peru;
by Cortez, the conquerer of Mexico;
by Ponce de Leon, who discovered
Florida; by Balboa, the first European
who saw the Pacific ocean; by O. eda,
who discovered Venezuela, and by Co.
lumbus himself and his brothers and |
his son and the companions of his |
VOVa0eS