Cotuí is a city in the central region of the Dominican Republic and is one of the oldest cities of the New World. It is the capital of Sánchez Ramírez Province in the Cibao. According to the Population and Housing Census, the municipality had a total urban population of 79,596 inhabitants. History It was founded in 1505 by Rodrigo Trillo de Mejía for order of Nicolas de Ovando, who was the governor of Hispaniola. Its name, formerly written Cotuy, was the name of the Taino community located around the gold and silver mines exploited by the Spanish conquerors from the first decade of the 16th century. Early years The total sum of gold extracted during the first two decades of the 16th century in the Spanish Island was estimated at 30,000 kilos, an amount greater than the totality of production in Europe in those years and above the total gold collected by the Portuguese in Africa. Historian Pedro Mártir de Anglería, in his work Una Decada de Orbe Novo, refers to the mining territory of Cotuí and explains: In 1533 Cotuí acquired the category of a town, then it began to be known as La Villa Mejorada del Cotuí. Cotui's gold mine was already in production and had become the richest in the New World. In the third decade of the 16th century, the Cotuí gold mine was exploited by a German company of miners, who established an important mining camp at that time. The mine was administered by the Spaniard Francisco Dávila on behalf of the King of Spain through a Mayorazgo. After Francisco Dávila's death in 1554, his will says, among other things, that ten percent of the Cotuí gold mine is for the construction of the church in the town of Aranda de Duero in Spain. A strong earthquake devastated the town in 1562 and it was moved to its current location, north of the Sierra de Yamasá and close to the Yuna River. In the 17th century the historian Nieto Valcácer carried out a detailed investigation in this place by order of the Spanish monarchy, according to Rincón in his work, he gave the report that he found the ruins of a Spanish city that gave unequivocal signs that a devastating telluric phenomenon had originated, the earthquake that destroyed the city of La Concepción de La Vega in 1562, was the same one that finished destroying