What is the oldest city in Americas that has been continuously inhabited since its founding? ++++++++++++++++++ 02-17-06, 09:58 PM Sailracer Piece of cake, DG, it was Cumana, Venezuela! 02-17-06, 10:12 PM DorianGreyed When was it founded?
(I realize now that I forgot to include the stipulation that the city must have been founded by Europeans. That, I think, changes the answer. But let's go on with the question I asked, not the one I meant to ask.) --- I just checked Cumana. It was founded in 1521, after the answer I have.
What is the oldest city in Americas that has been continuously inhabited since its founding by Europeans?
02-17-06, 10:45 PM Sailracer Why didn't you say that in the first place?
Saint Augustine, Florida, and Ponce de Leon is still looking for the Fountain of Youth, as you and he discussed back then (1565, I believe)
02-17-06, 11:31 PM DorianGreyed Nope. St. Augustine was founded in 1565, long after the city I have. (And Ponce had no idea where to look. I did. Big Grin) -------- Once again, I made a mistake. This time I left out an article. The question should read
What is the oldest city in the Americas that has been continuously inhabited since its founding by Europeans?
Since I have messed up, I will give a few hints.
You are in the right general area.
The city was founded by a man whose brother was more well-known, but even today, we are not certain his real name, nor his ancestry.
02-17-06, 11:45 PM Sailracer Last guess; Cuzco, Peru? (your memory is better than mine!)
2-18-06, 12:06 AM DorianGreyed Cusco was the capital of Tahuantinsuyu (Inca Empire), and was old when the Spanish came. The first Spaniards arrived in Cuzco, Peru on November 15th, 1533. Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, however, officially refounded Cusco on March 23rd, 1534, naming it the "Very noble and great city of Cusco". The city I am looking for is older than the SPansih settlement of Cuzco.
A Recap -
The city must have been founded by Europeans, and continuously inhabited since it was founded.
It is older than Cumana, Venezuela, which was founded in 1521.
St. Augustine is in the general area. (This is a big hint, as it tells you both who in general terms founded the city and when the earliest date it could have been founded.)
The founder had a more famous brother.
We do not know the real name of the founder or his brother, but...(another hint) - the name we know the brother by is most certainly not his birth name.
Further hints - The city is famous for something else, even though it may not be true, and the city has several other firsts in the Western Hemisphere.
SR, if you want the answer, e-mail me. Let's let this one go on for a while.
I wasn't able to find the answer, but what I did find, was that right next to St. Augustine on this Map of the new world was what looked like a city by the name of saint mathea or something like that....
02-18-06, 04:07 PM Leppi Is it Santo Domingo?
quote: Santo Domingo is an ancient Caribbean seaport city of firsts, discovered by Christopher Columbus it became the first capital of the new territories , the first to have Spanish coinage, a fort, a monastery, a cathedral, a university, a hospital and a palace. Santo Domingo is where Madrid's rulers in 1512 set up the highest level of its judicial system since the Middle Ages, the Spanish Colonies' first royal appellate court.
So I'm guessing it was founded in 1512?
quote: It was founded in August 1496 by Columbus' brother Bartolome, who moved the temporary capital from Hispaniola's northwest coast. Christopher Columbus set up it's first settlement, Navidad after discovering the island in December 1492. Columbus later established a community he called Isabela in the northwest, which Bartolome later moved to present-day Santo Domingo.
And this is what you mean by the brother connection?
if this is not what you mean, I give up, I really searched everywhere for the answer....
02-18-06, 05:08 PM DorianGreyed From our Interstellar traveller comes the correct answer!
The city was founded between the years 1496 and 1498, as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, by Bartolomeo Columbus (Bartolomé Colón), brother of Christopher Columbus, on the eastern bank of the Ozama River, and extended to the western bank in 1502 by the governor Fray Nicolás de Ovando.
In 1508, Ferdinand II of Aragon gave the city the coat of arms with the emblem of "First City of the Indies."
Inside the colonial city, the first citadel (Fortaleza Ozama), the first hospital (hospital de San Nicolás de Bari), the first cathedral (catedral de Santo Domingo), and the first monastery (Monasterio de San Francisco) in the Western Hemisphere were built. In 1538, construction began on the oldest university in the New World. It was named Santo Tomás de Aquino, in honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and still survives as the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD). A tomb in the cathedral was reputed to be the final resting place of Christopher Columbus, but the remains (the authenticity of which is disputed, with Spain also claiming to have a set of Columbus's bones) were moved to the Faro A Colón (Columbus Lighthouse) in 1990.* (above from Wikipedia)
The man we know as Christopher Columbus was known in Spain as Cristóbal Colón, and it Italy as Cristofolo Colombo. His ancestry could be Italin, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, Polish, Macedonian, Basque, Corsican, Catalan, or Jewish; there is evidence supporting each of those claims. What is known about him is that almost 100% of his writings were in Spanish, and that his speech seemed to use Portuguese accents.
Portrait of Columbus painted within 30 years of his death.
*Señor Colón's grave is in at least three different countries. Apparently he really was quite a man.
English Christopher Columbus Latin Christoferens Columbus Italian Cristoforo Colombo French Christophe Colomb Spanish Cristóbal Colón Catalan Cristòfor Colom Portuguese Cristóvão Colombo German Christoph Kolumbus Dutch Christoffel Columbus Norwegian Christopher Columbus Polish Krzysztof Kolumb Romanian Cristofor Columb Greek Χριστόφορος Κολόμβος Russian Христофор Колумб Hungarian Kolombusz Kristóf Finnish Kristoffer Kolumbus Turkish Kristof Kolomb Hebrew כריסטופר קולומבוס Arabic كريستوفر كولومبوس
Excellent job, Leppi, and thanks to SR for putting up with my bad question.
03-02-06, 10:02 PM Angeleno With regards to the oldest city founded in the Americas, I would like to know particularly which is the oldest city founded by Europeans in SOUTH AMERICA. I first thought it was Piura (1532), Peru, but then reading through Wikipedia I found Santa Marta, Colombia (1526) "(named for the Biblical Martha) was the first city to be founded in Colombia and South America." Is this accurate??? Confused
03-02-06, 10:45 PM DorianGreyed One of Wikipedia's faults, which has been discussed on AP, is that anyone can edit it, adding 'facts' as he chooses. While I don't claim this to be the last word on the subject, I offer this from Wikipedia:
Cumaná, (Venezuela) founded in 1521, is the oldest city on the entire South American continent. Cumaná is located on the banks of the Río Manzanares river and the Gulf of Cariacos. Things to see in Cumana include the Castillo de San Antonio de la Eminencia (Castle of Saint Anthony of the Eminence), the Museo del Mar (Maritime Museum), and the Cueva del Guácharo (Guácharo Cave). From Cumaná, Venezuela Highway 9 travels southwest approximately 65 km to the border with the state of Anzoátegui.
03-02-06, 11:17 PM DorianGreyed Cumana - Oldest Spanish city still in existence in Latin America, founded in 1521 - http://www.venezuelanadventures.com/info.php?i=231 -------- I Googled oldest city + "South America" and, while I saw many "oldest cities" founded b Europeans, I saw none older that Cumana in teh 20 pages that I looked at. Until one can beat 1521, that looks like the answer. -------- I should point out that there are certainly older cities in the United States, North America, Central America, and South America. however, they were not founded by Europeans.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,
Posts: 17425 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
