The Dominican Republic: a paradise on earth. Video hosted on Google. The Dominican Republic, is a country in the West Indies, occupying the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The country of Haiti occupies the western third of the island. The 315-km (195-mi) frontier with Haiti also marks a cultural divide. The Dominican Republic was a colony of Spain for about three centuries, and most of its people are of mixed Spanish and African descent. Today, Dominicans speak Spanish and follow many Spanish traditions. The people of Haiti, by contrast, are primarily of African descent and French in their traditions. The name of the Dominican Republic in Spanish is República Dominicana. Hispaniola is one of the islands where explorer Christopher Columbus landed on his first voyage across the Atlantic in 1492. The city of Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 by Columbus's brother and is the oldest surviving European settlement in the Americas. Today, Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic as well as its largest city. The Dominican Republic has had a troubled history. It gained independence from Spain in 1821, but independence did not bring internal peace or economic prosperity. Between 1844 and 1930 it was beset by numerous revolutions, economic instability, and corruption in government. From 1930 to 1961 it came under the dictatorial control of Rafael Trujillo. Although Trujillo brought economic stability, he allowed no political freedom. From the late 1960s on, elected presidents have held office, but they have not been able to solve the Dominican Republic's economic problems. The Dominican Republic is a mountainous country with several areas of lowland plains. Plains along the southeastern coast are chiefly used for growing sugar. Sugar has long been the country's chief product and chief export. Today, manufacturing and tourism also contribute to the country's economy, but most of the people remain poor. The economy is vulnerable to world food prices and also to the hurricanes that periodically strike the country. Because of poverty, unemployment, and economic instability, many Dominicans have chosen to leave their country and seek a better life elsewhere.
About The Dominican Republic. |
 Map Dominican Republic Throughout the country, winter is the driest period and summer the wettest. Most rain falls at the end of summer, coinciding with the hurricane season. Annual precipitation averages about 1,500 mm (about 60 in), but considerably more moisture is received by the mountainous areas of the north. Mountain slopes exposed to prevailing northeast winds receive more than 2,000 mm (80 in) of annual rainfall, and tropical rain forests flourish on these slopes. Drier climates occur on the south coast. Tropical hurricanes occasionally strike the country and can cause enormous damage.
The vegetation of the Dominican Republic, like that of the other islands of the West Indies, is extremely varied and luxuriant. Among the species of indigenous trees are mahogany, rosewood, satinwood, cypress, pine, oak, and cacao. Many species of useful plants and fruits are common, including rice, tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, yam, banana, pineapple, mango, fig, grape, and breadfruit.
The most noteworthy mammal among the indigenous animals is the agouti, a rodent. Wild dogs, hogs, and cattle are abundant, as are numerous reptiles, notably snakes, lizards, and caimans. Humpback whales congregate off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic during the winter months, which is their breeding season. Manatees and sea turtles also live in Dominican waters. Common birds include blue herons, glossy ibis, flamingos, and brown pelicans.
Population 9,183,984 (2006 estimate)
Population density 190 persons per sq km
492 persons per sq mi (2006 estimate)
Urban population distribution 59 percent (2003 estimate)
Rural population distribution 41 percent (2003 estimate)
Largest cities, with population Santo Domingo, 2,677,056 (2001 estimate)
Santiago, 836,614 (2001 estimate)
San Pedro de MacorÃs, 266,629 (2001 estimate)
Official language Spanish
Chief religious affiliations Roman Catholic, 89 percent
Protestant, 4 percent
Indigenous beliefs, 2 percent
Life expectancy 71.7 years (2006 estimate)
Infant mortality rate 28 deaths per 1,000 live births (2006 estimate)
Literacy rate 85.4 percent (2005 estimate)
 Dominican Republic The first permanent colony of Europeans in the western hemisphere was established in the Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo, founded in 1496 by the brother of Christopher Columbus, was the first permanent city in the New World. Some of the old colonial buildings are still standing, fine examples of which are in Santo Domingo. The colonial center of Santo Domingo was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990.
Art, music, and literature developed in part along Western patterns, with a strong African cultural component. The African heritage is especially notable in the country's folk culture, particularly the music. The two traditionsâAfrican and Spanishâblend in the popular national song and dance, the merengue. Merengue music can be heard everywhere on the island, and every summer Santo Domingo holds a two-week merengue festival at which the world's finest merengue bands and merengue dancers appear.
Altos de Chavon, Dominican Republic
Altos de Chavon is a cultural center perched high on the banks of the Chavon River in the Dominican Republic. The brainchild of United States businessman Charles Bluhdorn, this artists' village was built in the 1980s to resemble a 16th-century Spanish town. In addition to the large amphitheater, it has galleries, shops, a stone church, and a museum devoted to Dominican cultural history. Most of the country's major cultural institutions are in Santo Domingo. They include the Museo de las Casas Reales (Museum of the Royal Houses), a museum of colonial life; the Museo del Hombre Dominicano (Museum of the Dominican Man), with exhibits on pre-Columbian life on the island; and the Museo de Arte Moderna (Museum of Modern Art), with works by Dominican artists. The National Aquarium and National Botanical Garden, also in Santo Domingo, feature impressive displays. Puerto Plata on the north coast of the island has the Museo de Ambar, which displays unusual pieces of Dominican amber with plants and insects and other animals embedded inside them.
Dominican Republic: Merengue
Although merengue is played throughout the French Caribbean, it is the traditional dance music of the Dominican Republic. Along with salsa and cumbia, it has become one of the most popular pan-Latino dance styles. In the Dominican Republic, merengue can be heard in its most rural form, played by the cuatro (an instrument similar to a guitar) and marimba (thumb piano originating in Africa), or in a modern big-band style that uses brass instruments and synthesizers. This example, performed by Rafaelito Arias y su Conjunto, lies somewhere in between these styles. It features the button accordion, tambora (two-headed barrel drum played with the left hand bare, a stick in the right), guiro (metal scraper), saxophone, and marimba. The accordion replaces the guitar in the rural ensemble, typically playing along with or alternating with the saxophone.
Among the country's most beloved writers is Salomé Urena de Henriquez, who is considered a national poet. She lived in the second half of the 1800s and in 1881 organized the Instituto de Señoritas, the first Dominican center of higher education for women. Her two sons, Pedro and Max HenrÃquez-Ureña, became distinguished Latin American writers and thinkers. Other Dominican writers include Gastón Fernando Deligne, a modernist poet of the late 1800s and early 1900s; Fabio Fiallo, author of delicate love lyrics in the early 1900s; Manuel de Jesus Galvan, author of Enriquillo (1882), a historical novel based on an early Native American revolt against the Spaniards; and Manuel del Cabral, a versatile 20th-century poet whose work showed his strong sympathies with the country's impoverished blacks.
 Dominican Republic Juan Bosch, president of the republic in 1963, was also the most distinguished Dominican writer of the mid-20th century, well known as a novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. Joaquin Balaguer, the republic's president from 1986 to 1996, was also an accomplished writer on many topics. Much of the best-known Dominican writing today comes from Dominicans who have emigrated. Julia Alvarez, who moved with her family from the Dominican Republic to New York City at the age of 10, has written about the collision of the two cultures in such works as the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) and the children's book How Tia Lola Came to Stay (2001).
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