Dominican Republic - History, Politics, Administrative divisions, Geography, Economy, Culture, Music

Local name República Dominicana

Timezone GMT -4 Area 48 442 km²/18 699 sq mi population total (2002e) 8 833 000 Status Republic Date of independence 1844 Capital Santo Domingo Language Spanish (official) Ethnic groups Spanish, or mixed Spanish and African descent Religions Roman Catholic (92%), other (mostly Evangelical Protestant and followers of voodoo) (8%) Physical features Crossed NW–SE by Cordillera Central, with many peaks over 3000 m/10 000 ft; Pico Duarte, 3175 m/10 416 ft is highest peak in the Caribbean; wide coastal plain in E; main rivers include Yaque del Sur, Yaque del Norte, Yuna (E). Climate Tropical maritime climate with rainy season (May–Nov); Santo Domingo, average temperature 23·9°C (Jan), 27·2°C (Jul); annual rainfall 1400 mm/55 in; hurricanes (Jul–Nov). Currency 1 Dominican Peso (DOP) = 100 centavos Economy Mainly agriculture, especially sugar, cocoa; tourism expanding with new resort complexes on N coast. GDP (2002e) $53·78 bn, per capita $6300 Human Development Index (2002) 0·727 History Visited by Columbus, 1492; Spanish colony, 16th–17th-c; E province of Santo Domingo remained Spanish after partition of Hispaniola, 1697; taken over by Haiti on several occasions; independence from Haiti, 1844, as Dominican Republic; occupied by USA, 1916–24, 1965; comprises 26 provinces and a National District which contains the capital; governed by a President and National Congress (Senate and Chamber of Deputies).

República Dominicana PS3 Dominican Republic
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Spanish: Dios, Patria, Libertad (English: God, Fatherland, Liberty)
Anthem: Quisqueyanos valientes
Capital (largest city)	Santo Domingo 18°30′N 69°59′W
Official language	Spanish
Government	Republic
- President	Leonel Fernández
Independence	from Haiti
- Date	27 February 1844
Area
- Total	48,442 km² (131st) 18,810 sq mi
- Water (%)	1.6
Population
- July 2005 estimate	8,895,000 (87th)
- 2002 census	8,562,541
- Density	182/km² (58th) 474/sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
- Total	$67.410 billion (68th)
- Per capita	$7,611 (85th)
HDI  (2003)	0.749 (medium) (95th)
Currency	Peso (DOP)
Time zone	(UTC-4)
Internet TLD	.do
Calling code	+1-809 and +1-829

The Dominican Republic, (Spanish: República Dominicana, IPA [re'puβlika domini'kana]) is a country located on the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, bordering Haiti.

History

The indigenous inhabitants of the island of Hispaniola, on which the Dominican Republic is located, were the Taíno Amerindians.

Politics

Politics of the Dominican Republic takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of the Dominican Republic is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system.

Administrative divisions

The Dominican Republic is divided into 31 provinces.

Ázua Bahoruco (Neiba) Barahona Dajabón Duarte (San Francisco de Macorís) Elías Piña (Comendador) El Seibo (Santa Cruz del Seibo) Espaillat (Moca) Hato Mayor Independencia (Jimaní) La Altagracia (Higüey) La Romana La Vega María Trinidad Sánchez (Nagua) Monseñor Nouel (Bonao) Monte Cristi

Monte Plata Pedernales Peravia (Baní) Puerto Plata Salcedo Samaná Sánchez Ramírez (Cotuí) San Cristóbal San José de Ocoa San Juan San Pedro de Macorís Santiago Santiago Rodríguez (Sabaneta) Santo Domingo Valverde (Mao) D.N.*

* The national capital, also known as Distrito Nacional (D.N.), is the city of Santo Domingo de Guzmán.

Geography

The capital of the country is the city of Santo Domingo (full name Santo Domingo de Guzman), located in the Southern part of the island. The Province of Santo Domingo is comprised of several municipalities: Santo Domingo Norte (North Santo Domingo), Santo Domingo Este (East Santo Domingo, which is the provincial capital), Santo Domingo Oeste (West Santo Domingo) and Boca Chica.

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. To the north, at a distance between 100 and 200 km, are three extensive, largely submerged banks, which geographically are a southeast continuation of the Bahamas:

Navidad Bank Silver Bank Mouchoir Bank

Navidad and Silver Banks have been officially claimed by the Dominican Republic.

Economy

The Dominican Republic is a middle-income developing country primarily dependent on agriculture, trade, and services, especially tourism.

Following economic turmoil in the late 1980s and 1990, during which the GDP fell by up to 5% and consumer price inflation reached an unprecedented 100%, the Dominican Republic entered a period of moderate growth and declining inflation until 2002 after which the economy entered a recession, after the second commercial bank of the country (Baninter) collapsed, caused by a major fraud of 3.5 billion of dollars during the administration of President Hipolito Mejia (2000-2004).

According to the 2005 Annual Report of the United Nations Subcommittee on Human Development in the Dominican Republic, the country is ranked # 71 in the world for resource availability, # 94 for human development, and # 14 in the world for resource mismanagement.

Currency

The Dominican Peso (RD$) is the national currency of the country although the U.S. dollar is often acceptable in some places, especially tourist oriented shops and hotels. The International Monetary Fund revealed a growth of 7.6% over inflation index for 2006, which implies that the national currency of the Dominican Republic could naturally finish the year with an average basis between 35.70 and touching 38 per dollar roof. The U.S. dollar is implicated over almost all commercial actions of the Dominican Republic, supporting the theory that explains the devaluation of the peso in front of the dollar in 2005 is the result of the international currency market; and Jaime Aristy Escuder, principally) and well-recognized commercial analyst firms and institutions estimated an over-evaluation of the Dominican Peso suggesting that the daily basis of the Dominican currency is artificially controlled by the government, considerably bordering a free market's policies.

In recent years, illegal immigration from Haiti has dramatically increased as the Dominican economy improves and the Haitian economy remains virtually moribund. Current estimates put the Haitian population in the Dominican Republic as high as 1 million

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 indigenous Amerindian cultural elements.

Baseball is by far the most popular sport in the Dominican Republic and there are many famous Dominicans who play Major League Baseball in the U.S., including Albert Pujols, Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martínez, David Ortiz, Jose Reyes,Rafael Furcal, Vladimir Guerrero, Miguel Tejada, and Manny Ramirez.

Date	Name	Notes
January 1	New Year's Day
January 6	Catholic Day of the Epiphany	(Move the holiday to the next Monday)
January 21	Virgen de la Altagracia Day	(Catholic)
January 26	Duarte's day	Founding Father (Move the holiday to the next Monday)
February 27	Independence Day	National Day
April 14	Catholic Good Friday	Date for 2006 only
May 1	Labour Day	Date for 2006 only
June 15	Catholic Corpus Christi	Date for 2006 only
August 16	Restoration Day	National Day
September 24	(Catholic) Virgen de las Mercedes Day	Patroness's day
November 6	Constitution Day	National Day
December 25	Christmas Day	(Jesus' birthday).

Music

The Dominican Republic is known for a form of music called Merengue, which has been popular since the mid- to late-1900s.

Merengue is a type of lively, joyful music and dance that comes from the Dominican Republic.