When Spain returned in 1496, they founded the current capital, Santo Domingo, as the first European city in America.

In 1496, Santo Domingo was built and became the new capital, and remains the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the Americas.

45% of Dominicans consider themselves to have some significant Indigenous/Endemic ancestry, 18% are white, 7.8% are fully or predominantly black and 74% are mixed (Mestizo/Mulatto/"Indio"/Trigueño).

The Spaniards brought Christianity to the Dominican Republic, and today about 50% of the population reports as being Catholic.

The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates: [5] [7] Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):[9] Dominicans of full or predominant European descent: 17.8%, Mixed (Mestizo, Mulatto, "Indio", Triracial) descent: 74.4%, Afro descent: 7.8% Roman Catholic 51.3%, Evangelical 13%, Protestant 7.9%, Adventist 1.4%, other 1.8%, atheist 0.2%, none 22.4%, unspecified 2% (2018 est.)