PUERTO PLATA

in full San Felipe de Puerto Plata, city and port, northwestern Dominican Republic. It lies at the foot of Isabel de Torres Peak, along the Atlantic Ocean. Puerto Plata (meaning Silver Port in Spanish) was founded in 1503 by Christopher Columbus. Serving the fertile Cibao Valley, the port handles the produce of one of the nation's leading coffee-growing regions. The agricultural hinterland is also a major tobacco-producing area, and bananas, sugarcane, and dairy products are economically significant as well. Puerto Plata's port handles principally tobacco, coffee, cacao, rice, sugarcane, bananas, and lumber. Fishing is important to the city, as are processing and manufacturing plants; chocolate, matches, dairy products, foodstuffs, and liquor number among the leading products. Tourism grew in prominence with the construction of an international airport in the 1970s and the later addition of Playa Dorada, a resort complex. Puerto Plata is accessible by secondary highways from coastal and inland urban centres. The ruins of La Isabela, founded by Columbus in 1493 and one of the first European towns in the New World, are located 30 miles (50 km) west of the city. Pop. (1994 prelim.) 255,061.