We decided to take a long weekend to travel to Santo Domingo which is the first established settlement of the new "Americas". Discovered in 1492 by Columbus, Santo Domingo was settled in the early 1500s after several attempts at settlement in several other locations in the Dominican Republic. Because of hurricanes and earthquakes settlers were forced from the north side of the island to the south side where they were finally able to build their forts. At the time the island of Haiti/Dominican Republic was home to over 150,000 Taino indians. After the settlers arrived their numbers dimished to 40,000 due to illness and hard labor. Later in history, ALL the Tainos were removed from the island and sold as slaves. Santo Domingo is home to Christophen Columbus' remains. (His real last name is Colon.) The remains have been positively identified by DNA analysis. One of Columbus' main goals was to convert the natives to Christianity. The statue behind Don is of man who was quoted in the early 1500's saying that all men are created equally and that the Tiano indians should not be treated badly nor taken as slaves.