The Dominican Republic is an absolutely incredible country and its people are beautiful! This page aims at giving you a better understanding of the country and its people.

The Map

Currency:

The Dominican Peso (RD$). $1US is approximately equal to RD$33 (33 pesos).

Population:

9,904,000

Language:

Spanish

Overview:

The Dominican Republic, (Spanish: República Dominicana) is a country located on the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, bordering Haiti. Hispaniola is the second-largest of the Greater Antilles islands, and lies west of Puerto Rico and east of Cuba and Jamaica. A legacy of unsettled, mostly non-representative rule lasted for much of the 20th century; the move towards representative democracy has improved vastly since the death of military dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in 1961.

Geography:

The Dominican Republic is a beautiful example of God’s creation: lush, subtropical forests, beautiful beaches, rivers, mountains and fields. The capital of the country is the city of Santo Domingo, located in the Southern part of the island. The second largest city is Santiago de los Caballeros, more commonly referred to as simply Santiago. The country has three major mountain ranges: The Central Mountains (Cordillera Central), which originate in Haiti and span the central part of the island, ending up in the south, the Septentrional Mountains, running parallel to the Central Mountains, separate the Cibao Valley and the Atlantic coastal plains, and the Eastern Mountains, in the eastern part of the country. This is a country of many rivers, including the navigable Soco, Higuamo, Romana (also known as ‘Rio Dulce’), Yaque del Norte, Yaque del Sur, Yuna, Yuma, and Bajabonico.

Religion and Culture:

The Dominican Republic is a Hispanic country, therefore, as with all Hispanic countries in the Americas, its culture and people is derived predominantly from Spain, though heavily blended with African traditions and, to a much smaller degree, with indigenous Amerindian cultural elements. The Spanish cultural heritage is most evident in the national language and predominant religion - Catholicism. African cultural elements are most prominent in musical expressions and the carnival vibe of life, testimony to the rich African heritage that existed before and after slavery, but was not allowed to be practiced during it. More recent Antillean and Anglo-American influences also exist. Near the border between Haiti and Dominican Republic, some people practice voodoo. Eighty-nine percent of Dominicans are baptized in the Roman Catholic Church. Other substantial religious groups are the Evangelical Christians and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Around one percent of the nation’s inhabitants practice pure spiritism, although it is very common for Catholicism and spiritism to be mixed in Santeria’s seancees and “saint” parties.

History:

The indigenous inhabitants of the island of Hispaniola, on which the Dominican Republic is located, were the Taíno Amerindians. The Taínos were a seafaring branch of the South American Arawaks. The island was subsequently explored and claimed by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage in 1492, and Hispaniola became a springboard for Spanish conquest of the Caribbean and the American mainland. In 1697, Spain recognized French dominion over the western third of the island, which in 1804 became Haiti. The remainder of the island, by then known as Santo Domingo, sought to gain its own independence in 1821, but was conquered and ruled by the Haitians for 22 years; it finally attained independence as the Dominican Republic in 1844. In 1861, the Dominicans voluntarily returned to the Spanish Empire, but two years later they launched a war that restored independence in 1865. From 1931 to his assassination in 1961 dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic. Since 1965 the nation has still struggled economically.

Information courtesy of Wikipedia.