Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 14 September 2016

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Our next stop was Museo de las Casas Reales, or Museum of the Royal houses.  Built in 1511, this was the Real Audience (Royal Audience) or Royal Court of Justice, and also the Palace of the Governors and the General Captaincy until the west side of Hispaniola was ceded to France in 1799 and those functions moved to Cuba.

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These are pages from the first book written in Spanish in the Americas.  It is the navigational diaries of Christopher Columbus and the book of the privileges granted to him by the Crown.

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This must be the Santa Maria.

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The Golden Hind, Drake’s ship.

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The museum houses the history of the island from 1492 until 1821.

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The Pharmaceutical Products industry, founded in the sixteenth century, incorporated both Indian and Spanish knowledge.  It was established by a Spaniard married to an Indian named Antonio de Villa-Sante and featured a balm for many ailments derived from the guacunax tree.

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Rifles from the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries.

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Persian helmet, shield and arm guards.  Also Turkish sword.  Eighteenth to nineteenth centuries.

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Apparently a Grand Reception Hall.

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An eighteenth century warship, I’d say, but I didn’t record the label.

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Santo Domingo in 1785.

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Presumably the “throne” of the Governor.

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The portrait at the left is of Francisco de Vitoria (1486 – 1546), known for his defence of the rights of Indians against the settlers and his advocacy of the limits of justifiable warfare.

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