[lwptoc]
San Felipe de Puerto Plata, sometimes known as Puerto de Plata, is the ninth-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the seat of the province of Puerto Plata. The city is one of the country’s most major commercial ports.
Puerto Plata is well-known for its resorts, including Playa Dorada and Costa Dorada, which are situated east of San Felipe de Puerto Plata. The city has a total of 100,000 hotel rooms. The only aerial tramway in the Caribbean is at Puerto Plata, where tourists may ride up to Pico Isabel de Torres, a 793-meter-high peak inside the city.
The Fortaleza San Felipe, erected in the 16th century and used as a jail during Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship, is located near the port of Puerta Plata. The ambermuseum is another popular sight in this city. Christopher Columbus’ colony, La Isabela, is situated near Puerto Plata. The Spanish town became well-known in April 1563, when the English slave trader Sir John Hawkins arrived with 400 slaves he had kidnapped from Sierra Leone. Hawkins exchanged his captives for pearls, skins, sweets, and some gold with the Spaniards. This marked the beginning of British participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which resulted in the enslavement of 20 million people.