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Santo Domingo de Guzmán population 2,061,200 (Metro) (2003), estimated 2,253,437 (Metro) in 2006, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. The Greater Santo Domingo Area (including Villa Mella, Sabana Perdida, Bajos de Haina, Andres-Boca Chica and San Cristobal) is considered the most populous metropolis in the Caribbean with a population very comparable to that of Havana, Cuba.The city is located at in the Caribbean Sea at the mouth of the Ozama River. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World. It is also the second most populated city in the Caribbean Region (after Havana in Cuba). In 1930 the city of Santo Domingo was almost completely demolished by a tropical hurricane. Dictator Rafael Trujillo, the incumbent at the time, reconstructed the city and named it Ciudad Trujillo after himself. After his assassination in 1961 Ciudad Trujillo became Santo Domingo again. Santo Domingo is within the boundaries of the Distrito Nacional. In 2001 a law was approved making Santo Domingo de Guzmán less than 200 Km<sup>2</sup> in size, making it the smallest administrative division in the country. The rest of the former Santo Domingo was separated into what is now called Santo Domingo Province, which surrounds the Distrito Nacional on all sides.