First permanent European settlement in the New World
Who
Isabella
What
first
Where
Dominican Republic ()
When
1493
The first permanent settlement in the New World was Isabella on the island of Hispaniola (in present-day Dominican Republic). This first bit of real estate was built in 1493 by Columbus’s crew on his second voyage. Disease and hunger decimated this first settlement and in 1496, Columbus had his men build another town which became Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic capital today. The first permanent English settlement was Jamestown, Virginia in April, 1607. John Smith and George Percy were the most notable chroniclers of the early colony.