News reports from New York City report that a section of Broadway has been named after the man city officials now recognize was the first immigrant to settle in New York City. He was a native of what is today the Dominican Republic.
The stretch of Broadway between 159th and 218th streets in Upper Manhattan was designated Juan Rodriguez Way on Wednesday, 15 May.
City officials and researchers from the City University of New York’s Dominican Studies Institute say Rodriguez was a sailor who traveled with Dutch traders in 1613 from present-day Santo Domingo to what’s now New York City, disembarked and established a trading post with Native Americans.
The Dutch men returned to the Netherlands but Rodriguez is known to have stayed either in Manhattan or on Governors Island.
The new Juan Rodriguez Way runs through the heavily Dominican-American neighborhoods from Washington Heights to Inwood. His namesake, but not relative, City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez spearheaded the naming measure.