Santo Domingo de Guzmán, population 2,061,200 (2003), estimated 2,253,437 in 2006, is the capital and the largest city of the Dominican Republic. The city is located at 18°30′N 69°59′W, on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, and was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World. The year 1992 marked the 500th anniversary, El Quinto Centenario, of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America. The Columbus Lighthouse (Faro de Colón), with an approximate cost of 400 million Dominican pesos, was erected, amidst great controversy, in honor of this occasion. The cobblestone streets and late medieval architecture of the Western Hemisphere's first European city let visitors glimpse the colonial past, as vibrant nightlife, warm beaches and posh resorts take historic Santo Domingo into its future.