Actually, 800,000 in the Cibao Valley where Santiago is. SD has 2.5 million, POP around 150,000.
The Spanish primarily settled in Santiago in the Valley, so that is where the lighter skinned population is; it is more "European" as a city than any other, and less genetic mixing of races. There is a broad middle/upper-middle class there, more so than any other area of the DR.
I'm headed down 11/12 for a week, trip # 6 this year.
Jimmydr IS The Man on the North Coast, no doubt.