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Alain Manesson Mallet, 1630?-1706?
... la ville de San-Domingo ou de St. Dominique ... la capitale de l isle
Hispaniola ...
Germany, 1686.
The Spanish conceived of towns as central to the colonization of the Caribbean. Among the official regulations for towns, as stated in the Law of the Indies, were a grid of streets, a main plaza and a cathedral.
Alain Manesson Mallet was a French geographer, engineer and mathematician in the service of Louis XIV. This miniature plan of Santo Domingo is from the German edition of his multi-volume work titled Description de l'Univers (1686).
Santo Domingo, founded in 1498, is the oldest surviving town established by the Spanish in the Americas. A wall to the west and north provided protection from attacks.
Image no. 2004-239-1
