St. Thomas Aquinas University () was a

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. It is arguably the first institution of higher education in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. It was founded by

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

in 1538 in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

, in the Caribbean island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, present-day

, although it didn't have the official certification by the

king of Spain The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish ...

until 1558. The headquarters of the university was the Church and Convent of los Dominicos. It was closed in 1801 and in 1823, being reopened as a new iteration in 1914, named

Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo The Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) () is a public university system in Dominican Republic, with its flagship campus in Ciudad Universitaria (lit. University City) neighborhood of Santo Domingo and regional campuses in many citi ...

History

Founded during the reign of

Charles I of Spain Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) fr ...

, it was originally a seminary operated by

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

monks of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

. Later, the institution received a university charter by

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III (; ; born Alessandro Farnese; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era follo ...

''In Apostulatus Culmine'', dated October 28, 1538. However, it did not obtain the official Privilege by Charles V to be officially recognized as a university until 1558. Thus, there is a debate on whether it is officially the first university in the Americas. Many of the first universities argue that they were the first because UASD was not yet recognized. The counter argument being that whether the university was recognized by a foreign body or not is irrelevant, as the university granted higher education degrees since it was founded in 1538. Prior to its conversion into a full university, the institution had been a ''Studium Generale'' (seminary), founded in 1518 and operated by the

. In its structure and purpose the new university was modeled after the University of Alcalá in the city of Henares, Spain. In this capacity it became a standard-bearer for the medieval ideology of the

Spanish Conquest The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...

, and gained its royal charter in 1558. In this royal decree, the university was given the name University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino). The university was closed in 1801 under the French, but reopened in 1815 as a secular institution. It closed again in 1823, during the

Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo The Haitian occupation of Santo Domingo (; ; ) was the annexation and merger of then-independent Republic of Spanish Haiti (formerly Santo Domingo) into the Republic of Haiti, that lasted twenty-two years, from February 9, 1822, to February 27, ...

, when all students were ordered into military services. In 1866, the government decreed the creation of the Professional Institute (''Instituto Profesional''), which operated as substitution of the defunct university. And on November 16, 1914, President Ramón Báez, decreed its transformation into the

, successor of the first one.

References

External links

UASD
Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Santo Tomas de Aquino, Universidad Educational institutions established in the 1530s 1538 establishments in the Spanish Empire Universities in the Dominican Republic Education in Santo Domingo Educational institutions disestablished in 1823 1820s disestablishments in the Spanish West Indies 1823 disestablishments in the Spanish Empire

History

See also

References

External links