John Ogilby

Urbs Domingo in Hispaniola

      This handsome view shows the port of Santo Domingo, one of the oldest surviving European-established cities in the western hemisphere. Santo Domingo was first founded by Bartholmew Columbus, the brother of Christopher Columbus, in 1497. Established as the capitol of Hispaniola, it was the first Spanish colony in the New World. It remained the seat of Spanish power in the Americas until the conquest of Peru and Mexico in the early sixteenth century. In 1499, when the Columbus brothers fell out of favor with the Spanish court, Francisco Bobadilla was made governor of the city, an office he held until 1502 when he was replaced by Don Nicolas de Ovando. It was Ovando who denied Columbus entry into the port, forcing him to spend a year stranded in Jamaica. The city was sacked by Sir Francis Drake in 1586, who demanded a huge ransom before moving on to Cartegena and St. Augustine. This view appeared in John Ogilby’s America: Being the Latest, and Most Accurate Description of the New World, published in London in 1671. Ogilby’s work is an English translation of Arnoldus Montanus’ Die Nieuwe en onbekende Weereld…, published in Amerstdam, although greatly expanded in some instances and with new maps and views. A nice dark impression. (London, 1671) [color: Hand Colored, size: 14 x 11 inches, condition: VG]