Dominican Republic General Info
The People of the Dominican Republic
The people of the Dominican Republic are surely some of the friendliest people in the Caribbean , if not the world. This country hosts a multi-racial and multi-cultural society of over eight and a half million people, with three quarters of mixed origin and the other quarter of either European or African descent. Two thirds of the population live in the cities and the other third live in rural areas. A third of the population is under fourteen years of age and five percent are over 65 years of age. The government, or the services sector employs more than half of the working population, and about a third are employed in agriculture.
Language in the Dominican Republic
The official language in the Dominican Republic is Spanish. Most people involved in tourism understand and speak at least some English, if not other major tourism-related languages, such as German and French. The further outside a tourism region one goes, the more unlikely the people are to speak or understand anything other than Spanish. Learning to speak Spanish is not necessary to visit the Dominican Republic , but learning a few words and phrases will definitely make one's visit more enjoyable. The Dominican people are sure to be pleased with any effort made to try and speak their language and are helpful with correct pronunciation and learning more. See our Spanish Phrase Book to get started.
Economy of the Dominican Republic
The economy of the Dominican Republic enjoys most of its success due to the services sector - which is predominantly made up of the tourism and industrial 'free zone' industries that perform light manufacturing. The country's major trade partners are the US , Canada and the UK for exports, and the US , Venezuela , and Mexico for imports. Principal exports consist of the clothing and goods manufactured in the industrial free zones, as well as cigars, sugar, coffee, tobacco, fruits and vegetables, flowers and tropical plants, cocoa, gold and silver. Principal imports consist of petroleum, industrial and agricultural raw materials, capital goods, wood, pharmaceuticals and food products.
Government of the Dominican Republic
The government is a representative democracy based on the French system. There is a President, Congress, and House of Representatives, who are all elected individually. The President has 'absolute rule' in terms of decisions, with neither the Congress nor the House of Representatives having veto power. The 29 provinces and the capital each have their own civil government. There are three main political parties - the Partido Revolucionario (PRD), the Partido de la Libertad Democratica (PLD), and the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC). Presidential elections are held every four years. The last election was held in May 2004, where Dr. Leonel Fernandez of the Partia Libertad Democratica (PLD), was elected President' replacing Hipolito Mejia of the Partido Revolucionario (PRD).
Education in the Dominican Republic
There is both private and public education available in the Dominican Republic . The public systems provide one year of pre-school and Grade 1 to Grade 12 education. School is obligatory from pre-school until Grade 8. Private schools also provide Nursery and Kindergarten education. Public schooling is free but children are required to wear a uniform to attend and these are not provided free of charge. There are both public and private universities in the major cities and approximately 85% of the Dominican Republic is considered literate
Religion in the Dominican Republic
The majority of the people of the Dominican Republic claim to be Christian, with over 90% of those claiming Roman Catholicism as their religion. Dominican Catholicism is an eclectic mix of Roman Catholic traditions and African-rooted religions/ceremonies, or Santeria, and is widespread in the Dominican Republic . There are some small Protestant, Seventh Day Adventist, Baptist, Mormon and Jewish communities throughout the Dominican Republic as well.
Culture. Music, dance, cuisine.
The most popular form of music and dance in the Dominican Republic is called Merengue - easily identified by its unique beat pattern of 2/2 and 2/4 time. The sound combines a mixture of African and European elements and is created predominantly through a three-piece band consisting of a melodeon (accordion-like instrument), a güira (cheese grater-looking instrument that is scraped), and a tambora (double-headed drum). This is the music you'll see the Dominican people dancing to in bars, and listening, as well as singing to, in their cars, businesses and homes. Couples dancing merengue is somewhat of a practiced art and many Dominicans are more than happy to teach this exciting dance to anyone willing to learn. The other national music, especially popular in the countryside or more rural regions of the Dominican Republic , is Bachata . This is music with a more melancholy beat and 4/4 time, and it talks mostly about life in the country and relationships between men and women.
Dominican Republic cuisine is predominantly made up of a combination of Taino, Spanish and African influences over the last few centuries. Typical cuisine is quite similar to what can be found in other Latin American countries but many of the names of dishes are different. Breakfast usually consists of eggs and mangú (a boiled cassava or some other root vegetable). For heartier versions, these are accompanied by deep-fried meat and/or cheese. Similar to Spain , lunch is generally the largest and most important meal of the day. Lunch usually consists of some type of meat (chicken, pork or fish), rice and beans, and a side portion of salad. 'La Bandera', the most popular lunch dish, consists of broiled chicken, white rice and red beans. Typical Dominican cuisine usually accommodates all four food groups, incorporating meat or seafood; rice, potatoes or plantains; and is accompanied by some other type of vegetable or salad. Many dishes are made with 'sofrito', which is a mix of local herbs and spices sautéed to bring out all of the dish's flavors.
History of the Dominican Republic
Taínos
For at least 5,000 years before Christopher Columbus discovered America for the Europeans, the island, which he named Hispaniola , was inhabited by Amer-Indians. Anthropologists have traced multiple waves of indigenous immigration from two principle places. Some of the early Amer-Indians came from Central America (probably Yucatan and/or Belize ) and some came from South America , descendants of the Arawakan Indians in Amazonia , many of whom passed through the Orinocco Valley in Venezuela . It is from the blending of these waves of indigenous immigrants that the Taíno Indians , the people who welcomed Columbus on his arrival, are believed to have originated.
The word Taíno meant 'good' or 'noble' in their language, which they showed Columbus and his Spanish crew with their peaceful and generous hospitality. Early Spanish chroniclers document they saw no Taíno Indians fighting amongst themselves. By the end of the 15th century, the Taíno were well organized into five political units called cazicazgos and were considered to have been of the verge of civilization and central government. Recent estimates indicate there were probably several million Taíno living on the island at this time.
When Columbus crossed the Atlantic with his crew of Spaniards, he made stops on what is now known as the islands of the Bahamas and Cuba before landing on the island he named Hispaniola - the Taíno called it Quisqueya, Haití, or Bohío. But it was Hispaniola that got the Spaniards excited for several reasons. Columbus ' journal is full of descriptions indicating how beautiful the island paradise was, including high, forested mountains and large river valleys. He described the Taíno as very peaceful, generous and cooperative with the Europeans, and as a result, the Europeans saw the Taíno as easy targets to conquer. In addition, they saw the Taíno had gold ornaments and jewelry from the deposits of gold found in Hispaniola 's rivers. So after a month or so of feasting and exploring the northern coast of Hispaniola, Columbus hurried back to Spain to announce his successful discovery - but he had lost his flagship and had to leave many of his crewmen behind.
Spanish, French and Haitian Conquests
On Christmas Eve 1492, after returning from two days of partying with their Taíno hosts, Columbus ' flagship, the Santa Maria , ran afoul on a reef a few miles east of present-day Cap Haitien , after the entire crew had fallen asleep. With the help of the Taíno, they were able to salvage all of the ship's valuables, but the ship itself was lost. Before departing, Columbus was forced to create a small settlement and leave behind a group of 39 of his crewmen. He named this settlement Navidad.
Within a short time after Columbus ' departure, the Spanish settlers began fighting amongst themselves, with some even killing one another. They offended the Taíno by forcibly taking their wives or sisters and forcing them to work as their servants. After several months of this abuse, a chief by the name of Caonabó attacked the settlement and killed the Spanish settlers. When Columbus returned to the island with a large expedition the following spring, he was shocked to find the settlement burned to the ground and empty.
The first permanent European settlement, Isabella, was founded in 1493, on the north coast of the island, not far from where Puerto Plata is now. From there the Spaniards could exploit the gold in the Cibao Valley , a short distance away, in the interior of the country. The Spaniards brought horses and dogs, and combined with their armor and iron weapons, as well as their invisible allies, disease germs against which the Taíno had no immunities, the Taíno were unable to resist for long. An expeditionary force was sent to capture Caonabó and another to put down a unified force of thousands of warriors at the site today known as Santo Cerro, after which the Taíno were forced into hard labor, panning for gold under conditions that were repressive and deplorable.
Columbus ' brother, Bartholomew, was appointed governor while Christopher continued his explorations in the Caribbean region. After the discovery of gold in the south, Bartholomew founded the city of Santo Domingo in 1496. The Spaniards were jealous of the Columbus brothers' (Italian) leadership and so began accusing them of mismanagement when reporting back to Spain . These complaints had them relieved of their positions and both men were brought back to Spain in chains. Once there, it became evident that most of the accusations against them had been grossly exaggerated and Queen Isabella ordered their release.
Their successor as governor of the new colony, Nicolas Ovando, of Spain , decided to take action to "pacify" the Taíno once and for all. He arranged for the widely respected Taíno queen, Anacoana, the widow of Caonabó, to organize a feast, supposedly intended to welcome the new governor to the island. When 80-plus of the island's chiefs were assembled in Anacaona's large wooden caney ('palace') near the site of today's Port au Prince, in Haití, the Spanish soldiers surrounded it and set it on fire. Those who were not killed immediately were brutally tortured to death. After a mock trial, Anacaona was also hanged. Ovando ordered a similar campaign to kill all the Taíno chiefs in the eastern part of the island. With few remaining Taíno leaders, future resistance from the Taíno was virtually eliminated.
Unlike Europeans, Africans, and Asians (who had exchanged diseases for centuries along with commercial goods), the remaining Taíno did not have immunities to the diseases that the Spaniards and their animals carried to the Americas . Forced into brute labor and unable to take time to engage in agricultural activities in order to feed themselves, famine accelerated the death rate. To escape from the Spaniards, some Taíno adopted the tactic of abandoning their villages and burning their crops. They fled to less hospitable regions of the island, forming cimarrón ('runaway') colonies , or fled to other islands and even to the mainland. Smallpox was introduced to the island in 1518 and the Taíno deathrate accelerated. After 25 years of Spanish occupation, there were fewer than 50,000 Taíno remaining in the Spanish-dominated parts of the island. Within another generation, the survivors had nearly all become biologically mixed with Spaniards, Africans, or other mixed-blood people--had become the tripartite people today known as Dominicans. Some modern historians have classified the acts of the Spaniards against the Taíno as genocide.
In the first decade of the 1500s, one of the Taíno chiefs, Hatüey, escaped to Cuba , where he became involved in organizing armed resistance to the Spanish invaders. After a brave but uneven struggle, he was captured and tortured to death. The most successful resistance against the Spaniards took place from 1519 to 1534 , after the Taíno population had been almost completely decimated. This occurred when several thousand Taíno escaped their captivity and followed their leader Enriquillo to the mountains of Bahoruco, in the south-central part of the country, near the present border with Haiti . It was here, after raiding Spanish plantations and defeating Spanish patrols for 14 years, that the very first truce between an Amer-Indian chief and a European monarch was negotiated. Enriquillo and his followers were all pardoned and given their own town and charter.
By 1515 the Spaniards realized that the gold deposits of Hispaniola were becoming exhausted. Shortly thereafter, Cortèz and his small retinue of soldiers made their astonishing conquest of Mexico , with its fabulous riches of silver. Almost overnight the colony, which was usually called Santo Domingo after its capital city, was abandoned and only a few thousand "Spanish" settlers remained behind (many of whom were the offspring of Spanish fathers and Taíno mothers). Columbus ' introduction of cattle and pigs to the island had multiplied rapidly, so the remaining inhabitants turned their attention to raising livestock to supply Spanish ships passing by the island en route to the richer colonies on the American mainland. Hispaniola 's importance as a colony became increasingly minimized.
By the middle of the 17th century, the island of Tortuga , located to the west of Cap Haitien , had been settled by smugglers, run-away indentured servants, and members of crews of various European ships. In addition to capturing livestock on Hispaniola to sell for their leather, Tortuga became the headquarters for the pirates of the Caribbean , who predominantly raided Spanish treasure ships. This area became the recruiting grounds for expeditions mounted by many notorious pirates, including the famous British pirate Henry Morgan.
The French, envious of Spain's possessions in the Americas, sent colonists to settle Tortuga and the northwestern coast of Hispaniola, which the Spaniards had totally abandoned by 1603 (under royal mandate, the island's governor, Osorio, forcibly moved all Spaniards to a line south and east of today's San Juan de Maguana). In order to domesticate the pirates, the French supplied them with women who had been taken from prisons, accused of prostitution and thieving. The western third of Hispaniola became a French possession called Saint Domingue in 1697, and over the next century developed into what became, by far, one of the richest colonies in the world. The wealth of the colony derived predominantly from cane sugar. Large plantations were worked by hundreds of thousands of African slaves who were imported to the island.
Inspired by events taking place in France during the French Revolution and by disputes between whites and mulattos in Saint Domingue, a slave revolt broke out in the French colony in 1791, and was eventually led by a French Black man by the name of Toussaint L'ouverture. Since Spain had ceded the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo to France in 1795, in the Treaty of Basilea, Toussaint L'Ouverture and his followers claimed the entire island.
Although L'Ouverture and his successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, succeeded in re-establishing order and renewing the economy of Saint Domingue, which had been badly devastated, the new leader in France, Napoleon Bonaparte, could not accept having France's richest colony governed by a Black man. Succumbing to the complaints of former colonists who had lost their plantations in the colony, a large expedition was mounted to conquer the Blacks and re-establish slavery. Led by Napoleon's brother-in-law, General Leclerc, the expedition turned into a disaster. The Black army definitively defeated the French, and the Blacks declared their independence, establishing the Republic of Haiti on the western third of the island of Hispaniola .
The French retained control of the eastern side of the island, however, and then in 1809 returned this portion to Royal Spanish rule. The Spaniards not only re-established slavery in Santo Domingo , but many of them also mounted raiding expeditions into Haiti to capture Blacks and enslave them as well. Due to the neglect of the Spanish authorities, the colonists of Santo Domingo , under the leadership of José Núñez de Cáceres, proclaimed what came to be called the Ephemeral Independence. In 1822, fearful the French would mount another expedition from Spanish Santo Domingo to re-establish slavery, as they had threatened to do, Haiti 's president Jean-Pierre Boyer sent an army that invaded and took over the eastern portion of Hispaniola . Haiti once again abolished slavery and incorporated Santo Domingo into the Republic of Haiti .
Independence
For the next 22 years the whole island of Hispaniola was under Haitian control - Dominicans call the period "The Haitian Occupation". Due to their loss of political and economic control, the the former Spanish ruling class deeply resented the occupation . During the late 1830's, an underground resistance group, La Trinitaria, was organized under the leadership of Juan Pablo Duarte. After multiple attacks on the Haitian army, and because of internal discord among the Haitians, the Haitians eventually retreated. Independence of the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola was officially declared on February 27, 1844 , and the name República Dominicana ( Dominican Republic ) was adopted.
The La Trinitaria leaders of the move for Dominican independence almost immediately encountered political opposition from within, and in six months were ousted from power. From this time on the Dominican Republic was almost constantly under the rule of caudillos , strong leaders who ruled the country as if it were their personal fiefdom. Over the next 70 years, the Dominican Republic had multiple outbreaks of civil war and was characterized by political instability and economic chaos.
For the next quarter of a century the leadership seesawed between that of General Pedro Santana and General Buenaventura Báez, whose armies continuously fought each other for control of government. In an effort to maintain some type of stability, the two military leaders and their armies resorted to outside assistance. In 1861, General Pedro Santana invited the Spanish to return and take over their former colony. But after a short period of mismanagement by Spaniards, the Dominicans realized their mistake and forced the Spaniards out so they could restore the Republic. Another attempt was made for stability when Dominicans invited the United States to take over a decade later. Although U.S. President Grant supported the request, it was defeated by the U.S. Congress and the idea abandoned.
During the 19th century, the country's economy shifted from ranching to other sources of revenue. In the southwestern region, a new industry arose with the cutting down and exporting of precious woods like mahogany, oak and guayacán. In the northern plains and valleys around Santiago , industry focused on growing tobacco for some of the world's best cigars, and on coffee.
In 1882, General Ulysses Heureux came into power. His brutal dictatorship consisted of a corrupt regime that maintained power by violent repression of his opponents. General Heureux handled the country's affairs so poorly that it regularly rocked back and forth between economic crisis and currency devaluations. Following his assassination in 1899, several individuals came to power, only to be rapidly overthrown by their political opponents, and the country's internal situation continuously degenerated into chaos.
Around the turn of the century, the sugar industry was revived, and so many Americans came to the Dominican Republic to buy plantations that they came to dominate this vital sector of the economy. In 1916, Americans, wanting to expand their influence and power in the Dominican Republic, used the First World War as an excuse to bring in U.S. Marines to 'protect it' against vulnerability to large European powers such as Germany. They had used this argument just prior to send in U.S. Marines to occupy Haiti .
The U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic lasted 8 years, and from the very beginning the Americans quickly took over complete control. They ordered the disbanding of the Dominican Army and forced the population to disarm. A puppet government was installed and obliged to obey orders from the occupying U.S. Marine commanders. A re-modeling of the legal structure took place in order to benefit American investors, allowing them to take control of greater sectors of the economy and remove Customs and import barriers for any American products being brought into the Dominican Republic . Although many Dominican businessmen experienced losses due to these changes, the political violence was eliminated and many improvements in the Dominican Republic 's infrastructure and educational system were introduced.
Trujillo , The Dictator
One of the changes the Americans made was to establish and train an Army, which had previously been done in next-door Haiti . Their reasoning was that an internally trained Army would maintain law, order, and public security. In both the Dominican Republic and Haiti , the end result was to shift power away from civilians to the military. During the time of the American occupation, the head of the Dominican Army was a former telegraph clerk by the name of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. This unscrupulous strongman utilized his position in power to amass an enormous personal fortune from embezzlement activities, initially involving the procurement of military supplies. Although the Dominican Republic had its first relatively free elections after U.S. forces left in 1924, within a short time Trujillo was able to block any government reform actions, and in 1930 he took complete control of power.
Using the Army as his enforcer, Trujillo wasted no time in setting up a repressive dictatorship and organized a vast network of spies to eliminate any potential opponents. His henchmen did not hesitate to use intimidation, torture, or assassination of political foes to terrify and oppress the population to ensure his rule and amass his fortune. Before long he consolidated his power to such a degree that he began to treat the Dominican Republic as his own personal kingdom. He was so arrogant and confident that, after just 6 years at the head of government, Trujillo changed the name of the capital city from Santo Domingo (which name had existed for over 400 years), to Cuidad Trujillo (Trujillo City).
Trujillo received American support of his leadership because he offered generous and favorable conditions to American businessmen wanting to invest in the Dominican Republic . More importantly to the U.S. , after World War II, Trujillo showed his political support of the U.S.A. 's stand against the evils of Communism. By 1942 Trujillo even arranged to repay all of the foreign debt due to the U.S. , which had for decades limited economic initiatives of the Dominican government. But after several years of confiscating ownership of the majority of the most important domestic businesses, he began to take control of major American-owned industries too, in particular, the very important sugar industry. These take-over activities, combined with Trujillo 's meddling in the internal affairs of neighboring countries, led to increasing U.S. disenchantment with the Dominican Republic 's dictator.
One of Trujillo 's most notorious acts was committed against the Dominican Republic 's neighbor, Haiti . For centuries there had been a lack of clear definition of the location of the border between the two countries--a source of aggravation and conflict for both. Not only had the border areas been an area of incessant smuggling activities, but also thousands of Haitians had begun to settle the lands around the ambiguous border. Trujillo had never hidden his racist ideas about the "inferiority and unattractiveness" of the black-skinned Haitians, so in 1937, after first negotiating an internationally lauded border agreement with Haiti 's president, he ordered his Army to oversee the massacre of all Haitians on the Dominican side of the border. It is estimated that as many as 17,000 unarmed men, women and children, many of whom had lived in the Dominican Republic for generations, were slaughtered in a bloodbath of violence. Most of this massacre took place around the border town of Dajabón and the aptly re-named Massacre River .
In an attempt to deflect international criticism of this horrendous massacre, Trujillo offered to accept into the Dominican Republic as many as 100,000 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. But when it came to action, approximately 600 Jewish families were offered refuge in 1942, settling in what is known today as the El Batey section of Sosua (about 20 kms east of Puerto Plata). Of these families, only a dozen or so remained permanently in the area.
Trujillo remained in power for more than 30 years, but toward the end of his reign he succeeded in alienating even his most avid former supporters, including the U.S. The final straw came when he was linked with an abortive assassination attempt against Venezuelan President Rómulo Bétancourt. A year later, on May 30, 1961 , Trujillo 's personal automobile was ambushed upon returning from a rendezvous with his mistress, and the dictator and his chauffeur met a violent end. When he died, he was one of the richest men in the world, having amassed a personal fortune estimated to be in excess of $500 million U.S. dollars, including ownership of most of the large industries in the country and a major sector of productive agricultural land. The anniversary date of his assassination, May 30 th , is celebrated as a national holiday in the Dominican Republic .
Modern History
After Trujillo 's assassination, his vice-president at the time, Dr. Joaquín Balaguer, took control of the presidency. A year and a half later, Juan Bosch, of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), was elected president. Bosch's socialist program was judged to be too extreme by the U.S., who were then paranoid about the possible spread of Communism after Fidel Castro's successful revolution in Cuba, and because the Dominican Army had maintained Trujillo in power for so many years. The Army's proponents maneuvered to block every one of Bosch's legislative reforms, and only 9 months later they engineered a coup d'état to oust him from the presidency.
The following 2 years saw political and economic chaos in the Dominican Republic . This culminated when the dissatisfied working classes, allied with a dissident Army faction, rose in rebellion and took action to re-establish constitutional order on April 24, 1965 . U.S. President Lyndon Johnson ordered the U.S. Marines to occupy the Dominican Republic under the pretext that Communists were responsible for the political uprising.
A year later, former leader Dr. Joaquín Balaguer was elected president once again, with U.S. help, in what was acknowledged by all observers to have been a rigged election. Balaguer remained in power for the next 12 years, winning re-election in both 1970 and 1974. In both instances the opposition parties maintained that the elections would again be rigged, so they did not even nominate candidates to participate in the electoral races.
In the elections of 1978, the Dominican citizens showed their desire for change by electing Dr. Antonio Guzmán of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). Balaguer and his supporters had become aware of the pro-PRD movement during the campaign and election, and unwilling to cede defeat, attempted to put an end to the vote counting in order to maintain Balaguer in the presidency. But under international pressure, particularly President Jimmy Carter's government in the U.S. , Balaguer was forced to admit defeat and step down.
Just before Guzmán's 4-year term ended in 1982, he committed suicide, allegedly after becoming aware that close family members were involved in massive corruption and embezzlement of government funds. Dr. Salvador Jorge Blanco, of the same political party, replaced Guzmán as president. Blanco continued in the time-honored Dominican Republic tradition of rewarding family members, close friends and political supporters with lucrative governmental posts. His term in the Dominican Republic Presidency was, in the end, marred by allegations of massive corruption and misappropriation of government funds. He was later found guilty of both and convicted to 20 years in prison.
Thoroughly disillusioned by the mismanagement and corruption of the leaders of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), Dominicans returned to the polls in 1986 to opt again for Dr. Joaquín Balaguer. Due to divided and disorganized opposition parties at the next elections in 1990, Balaguer was once again re-elected. With all of his years as President of the Dominican Republic , he had become almost as dictatorial as Trujillo .
During this period, the international community condemned the Dominican government for their continued exploitation of Haitian braceros (sugar cane workers). It has been alleged that thousands of these workers were forced to do backbreaking work for long hours under the hot sun, under the supervision of armed guards. International observers reported that laborers were forced to survive in deplorable living conditions. They were paid only pennies for their toil and were not permitted to leave their places of employment, conditions that have been likened to slavery. In June 1991, bowing to international pressure, all of the Haitian workers were deported. It is suspected that some of these working and living conditions continue to exist for Haitians in the Dominican Republic today--thousands of Haitians work in mainly heavy manual labor and low-paying jobs in the construction and agricultural industries within the Dominican Republic, jobs scorned by the bulk of Dominican
Flora and fauna in Dominican Republic.
Vegetation
The array of plant life is understandably impressive in a country with the highest and lowest points in the West Indies , and places where it never rains and others where it never stops raining. The most common type of life zone is subtropical forest, which is found in lowland areas and on the floors and slopes of most valleys. This is the lush, green, exotic and eminently healthy landscape usually associated with the Caribbean . It is characterized by royal palms, coconut palms, Hispaniolan mahogany, West Indian cedar, wild olive, American muskwood and others. Meanwhile, the Dominican coastline has its fair share of red, white and button mangroves - although not as many as some Caribbean countries due to the numerous cliffs around the country's coast. As you go up into the highland regions, you start to see mountain forests with palms, pines (the Creolean pine is the most common), ferns and hundreds of different species of orchid. In stark contrast, the desert regions - in the southwest of the Dominican Republic , for example - have arid landscapes where multi-shaped cacti predominate.
Birds
The considerable bird population in the Dominican Republic is made up of indigenous species and wintering birds from the North American mainland. Look out for species such as the Hispaniolan parrot, the Hispaniolan woodpecker, the rarer Hispaniolan trogon and Hispaniolan parakeet, the palmchat (which nests in the royal palms on the coastal plains) and several types of owl and pigeon, including the endangered white-crowned pigeon. Around the coast plenty of shorebirds can be seen. Great egrets, American frigate birds, brown pelicans, blue herons, glossy ibis, ruddy ducks and flamingos are all relatively common, especially on the off-shore islands of the Dominican Republic and around the numerous lakes and lagoons on the mainland. In the mountains, there are yet more species such as the Antillean siskin, the white-necked crow, the green-tailed warbler and numerous types of butterfly and hummingbird. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and it remains to be seen what other species exist in the hitherto unexplored parts of the country.
Geography of the Dominican Republic
Overview
The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola . At 48,921 sq. km, it is the second largest country in the Caribbean , after Cuba . The Dominican coastline stretches for 1,633 km, and is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north.
The geography of the Dominican Republic is greatly diverse, ranging from arid semi-desert plains, to lush valleys, to tropical rain forests with 27 different climatic zones; resulting in a wide variety of incredibly beautiful vegetation. The topography of the Dominican Republic consists of a diverse range of highland and lowland areas, offshore islands, rivers and lakes, all of which contribute in some way or another to the varied beauty of the country and the adventure travel options to explore. Most visitors come for its magnificent gold or white sand beaches of the country's 1633 kilometers of coastline. But the interior of the country has an amazing amount to offer the visitor as well. There are five mountain ranges that run through the country. The Cordillera Central , the runs through the center of the country, is the highest mountain range on the island, and includes Pico Duarte, the highest mountain in the Caribbean , at 3087 meters (10,128 feet).
The Dominican Republic is divided into 30 provinces. The capital city, Santo Domingo , is the oldest city in the Caribbean and the New World . Other major cities include Santiago de los Trenta Caballeros (Santiago), La Vega, San Francisco de Macorís, San Cristóbal, San Pedro de Macorís, La Romana, Puerto Plata and San Juan de la Maguana.
Detailed (from DominicanAdventures.com )
Introduction
The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola . At 48,921 sq. km it is the second largest country in the Caribbean , about the same size as the combined area of the US states of Vermont and New Hampshire . The Dominican coastline stretches for 1,633km, and is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. The topography of the Dominican Republic consists of a diverse range of highland and lowland areas, offshore islands, rivers and lakes, all of which contribute in some way or other to adventure travel in the country.
Rivers and Lakes
Four major rivers drain the numerous highland areas of the Dominican Republic . The Yaque del Norte carries excess water down from the Cibao Valley and empties into Monte Cristi Bay . Likewise, the Yuna River serves the Vega Real and empties into Samana Bay . Drainage of the San Juan Valley is provided by the Yaque del Sur, which empties into the Caribbean , and the Artibonite River , which crosses the border into Haiti . The Yaque del Norte is the longest and most important river in the Dominican Republic .
Although it lies only 85km to the southwest of Pico Duarte, Lago Enriquillo is 40m below sea level and the lowest point in the West Indies . Other than this, the Dominican Republic is not blessed with many natural lakes. The only other one of any size is Laguna del Rincon in the Enriquillo Basin .
Highlands
Like Haiti , a large proportion of the Dominican Republic (about 80%) is mountainous; but unlike Haiti , much of the country's four main mountain ranges continue to enjoy forest cover, relatively fertile soils, and a degree of agricultural production. The most northerly of these ranges is the Cordillera Septentrional, which extends from the coastal town of Monte Cristi near the Haitian border to the Samana Peninsular in the east, running parallel to the Atlantic coast. The highest range in the Dominican Republic - indeed, in the whole of the West Indies - is the Cordillera Central . Connected to the Massif du Nord in Haiti , it gradually bends southwards and finishes near the town of Azua de Compostela on the Caribbean coast. The Cordillera Central is home to the four highest peaks in the West Indies : Pico Duarte (3,087m), La Pelona (3,085m), La Rucilla (3,049m) and Pico Yaque (2,760m). In the southwest corner of the country, south of the Cordillera Central , there are two, largely dry and rocky ranges. The more northerly of the two is the Sierra de Neiba, while in the south the Sierra de Bahoruco is a continuation of the Massif de la Selle in Haiti . The other main highland area, the Cordillera Oriental , is lower than the other mountain ranges. It is really a series of rolling hills extending west along the Atlantic coast parallel to the southern shore of Samana Bay , disappearing in the foothills of the Cordillera Central .
Highland Valleys
With mountain ranges running parallel to each other, the Dominican Republic boasts a number of highland valleys. Variously described as the 'bread basket' or 'food basket' of the Dominican Republic and a 'paradise' by Christopher Columbus, the Cibao Valley is the most fertile area in the country. Almost everything is grown either here or in the Vega Real (Royal Meadow), another fertile valley at the eastern end of the Cibao. Rather less productive is the semi-arid San Juan Valley south of the Cordillera Central and extending westward into Haiti . Still more barren is the Neiba Valley , tucked between the Sierra de Neiba and the Sierra de Bahoruco. This valley is also known as the Cul-de-Sac, although geologists often refer to this area as the Enriquillo Basin. Much of the land in the Enriquillo Basin is below sea level, resulting in a hot, arid, desert-like environment.
Lowlands
The Coastal Plain of Santo Domingo is the largest and most economically important of the lowland areas in the Dominican Republic . Stretching north and east of Santo Domingo it covers the area left by the Cordillera Oriental , extending as far as the Atlantic Ocean . West of Santo Domingo its width is reduced to 10km as it hugs the coast, finishing at the mouth of the Ocoa River . A few other small coastal plains can be found around the towns of Puerto Plata and Azua, as well as around Samana Bay and the Pedernales Peninsular in the southwest.
Islands
The two largest offshore islands are Saona and Beata: the former lies off the southeastern coast and the latter off the southern tip of the Pedernales Peninsular. Two smaller islands, Catalina and Alto Velo, lie to the west of Saona and Beata respectively. Otherwise there are three islands in Lago Enriquillo (Cabritos, Barbarita and Islita), and some sandy keys off the northern coastal town of Monte Cristi .
