It is no question that in the 1920s, the Dominican Republic was in bad shape. Political instability is an understatement; the country had 28 revolutions in a 50 year span. The country was in debt to the US, for which repayment the United States took over the Dominican militarily, as well as taking control of…
In a world full of beautiful libraries, this one holds its own. The Library of Congress is America’s public library. Containing one of the largest collections anywhere, it is not only a spectacular building worth visiting, but also an institution fascinating in its history. The Library of Congress was founded in 1800 when Washington, DC…
In 1492, Christopher Columbus used the remains of his flagship Santa Maria to build a small fort where the Ozama River emptied into the bright blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. Four years later, in 1496, on a return visit, Columbus established a colony on the spot. Today, Santo Domingo remains the oldest European-built city…
This is, without a doubt, one of the ugliest monuments I’ve ever visited. The Faro a Colon, or Columbus Lighthouse, is a masterpiece of brutalism, a $70 million towering edifice of cement, visible from all over the city. It is perched atop a hill in eastern Santo Domingo, just across the Ozama River from the…
It is a beautiful fall afternoon in Munich’s English Garden, and the city has come out to enjoy it. An area larger than New York’s Central Park, the English Garden is a vast urban green space of wide lawns, man-made streams created by diverted water from the Isar River, monuments, tall trees, and beer gardens.…
Munich is, comparatively speaking, a modern city. While some cities trace back to Roman times, Munich itself is only mentioned as a city with a bridge over the river Isar from the year 1158. However, over the centuries, it went from a tiny settlement of Benedictine monks to the capital of a Germanic kingdom. Any…
The history of Germany is so different from that of most of Western Europe. While countries like Spain, France, and the Netherlands have existed for centuries, in some cases even with relatively unchanged borders, Germany as a country didn’t really exist until 1871, when the German Empire was born, led by the northern kingdom of…
It’s good to be the king. Well, in this case, it’s good to be the emperor. Or empress. Vienna served as the imperial capital of the Austrian Empire (later the Austro-Hungarian Empire), and was the seat of the Habsburg dynasty. This family had titles ranging from Duke/Duchess to Holy Roman Emperor, and everything between, from…
You may be wondering why Bratislava never seems to come up in the history books when, in fact, the city has existed since at least the 10th century. Well, as Istanbul was once Constantinople (and Byzantium before that, though the song doesn’t pay attention to that part), until 1919, there was no Bratislava. This was…
Editor’s note: like so many people, my only real knowledge of Azerbaijan comes from reading about their recent wars (skirmishes?) with Armenia. It is nice to see another side of the country, as told by Sam Spector, our traveling rabbi. For more of Sam’s adventures, click here to visit his index page. My last article…