Dominican Republic
From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia
| Image:Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg |
</td>
</tr><tr> <td colspan="3" style="line-height:1.2em; text-align:center;">Motto: "Dios, Patria, Libertad" (Spanish)
"God, Homeland, Liberty"</td>
</tr><tr>
<td colspan="3" style="line-height:1.2em; text-align:center;">Anthem: Himno Nacional Dominicano
</td>
</tr><tr>
<td colspan="3" style="text-align:center; padding:0.6em 0em;">
</td>
</tr><tr class="mergedtoprow"><td colspan="2">Capital
(and largest city)
</td><td>Santo Domingo Template:Smallsup
</td></tr><tr>
<th colspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle; white-space:nowrap;">Official languages</th>
<td>Spanish</td>
</tr><tr>
<th colspan="2">Demonym</th>
<td>Dominican
</td>
</tr><tr>
<th colspan="2">Government</th>
<td>Presidential system</td>
</tr><tr class="mergedrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">President</td>
<td>Leonel Fernández</td>
</tr><tr class="mergedbottomrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">Vice President</td>
<td>Rafael Alburquerque</td>
</tr><tr class="mergedtoprow"><th colspan="2">Independence</th>
<td>From Haiti </td></tr><tr class="mergedbottomrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">Date</td>
<td>27 February 1844 </td>
</tr><tr class="mergedtoprow">
<th colspan="3">Area</th>
</tr>
<tr class="mergedrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">Total</td>
<td> 48,921 km² (130th)
18,816 sq mi </td>
</tr><tr class="mergedrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">Water (%)</td>
<td>1.6</td>
</tr><tr class="mergedtoprow">
<th colspan="3">Population</th>
</tr><tr class="mergedrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">July 2007 estimate</td>
<td>9,760,000 (82th)</td>
</tr><tr class="mergedrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">2000 census</td>
<td>9,365,818 </td>
</tr><tr class="mergedbottomrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">Density</td>
<td>201/km² (38th)
523/sq mi</td>
</tr><tr class="mergedtoprow">
<td colspan="2">GDP (PPP)</td>
<td>2007 estimate</td>
</tr>
<tr class="mergedrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">Total</td>
<td>$89.87 billion (62th)</td>
</tr><tr class="mergedbottomrow">
<td style="width:1em; padding:0 0 0 0.6em;"> - </td>
<td style="padding-left:0em;">Per capita</td>
<td>$9,208 (71th)</td>
</tr><tr>
<td colspan="2">Gini (2003)</td>
<td>51.7 (high) </td>
</tr><tr>
<td colspan="2">HDI (2005)</td>
<td>Template:Increase 0.779 (medium) (79th)</td>
</tr><tr>
<th colspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle;">Currency</th>
<td>Peso (DOP) </td>
</tr><tr >
<th colspan="2">Time zone</th>
<td>Atlantic (UTC-4)</td>
</tr><tr>
<th colspan="2">Internet TLD</th>
<td>.do</td>
</tr><tr>
<th colspan="2">Calling code</th>
<td>+1spec. 1-809 and +1-829
</td>
</tr><tr style="font-size:80%;">
<td align="right">1</td>
<td colspan="2" style="padding-left:0em;">Known as Ciudad Trujillo from 1936 to 1961[1]</td>
</tr></table>
The Dominican Republic (Spanish: República Dominicana, pronounced [re'puβlika ðomini'kana]) is a Latin American country located in the Greater Antilles archipelago on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. It shares the island with the Republic of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are split by two countries; the other is Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten. Hispaniola is the second-largest of the Greater Antilles, and lies west of Puerto Rico and east of Cuba and Jamaica.[2]
The Dominican Republic is the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, its capital Santo Domingo.[3] It has the first cathedral[1] and university, as well as the first European-built road and fortress in the Americas. Santo Domingo (originally New Isabella) was also the first colonial capital in the Americas.[4]
For most of its independent history, the nation experienced political turmoil and unrest, suffering through many non-representative and tyrannical governments. However, since the death of military dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in 1961, the Dominican Republic has moved toward representative democracy.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] The Taínos
The island of Hispaniola, of which the Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds and the Republic of Haiti the western third, was inhabited by the Taínos, an Arawakan-speaking people, who may have arrived around A.D. 600, displacing earlier inhabitants.[5] The Taínos lived in villages headed by chiefs and called the island Ayiti or Haiti ("mountainous land"), Bohio, and Quisqueya.[6] By 1492 they were divided into five chiefdoms (cacicazgos in Spanish, from cacique, chief).
There are widely varying estimates of the population of Hispaniola in 1492, including 100,000,[7] 300,000[5] 3 million,[8] and 7-8 million.[9] They engaged principally in farming and fishing,[3] as well as hunting and gathering.[5]
[edit] Spanish rule
Christopher Columbus landed at Môle Saint-Nicolas on December 5, 1492, in his first voyage, and claimed the island for Spain. Nineteen days later, the Santa Maria ran aground near the present site of Cap-Haitien; Columbus was forced to leave 39 men, founding the settlement of La Navidad. He returned to Spain, voyaging back to America three more times. After initially friendly relations, the Taínos resisted the conquest. One of the earliest leaders to fight against the Spanish was the female Chief Anacaona of Xaragua, in the southwest, who married Chief Caonabo of Maguana, in the center and south of the island. The two fought hard against the Europeans; she was captured by the Spanish and executed in front of her people. Other notables who resisted include Chief Guacanagari, Chief Guama, and Chief Hatuey, who later fled to Cuba and helped fight the Spaniards there. Chief Enriquillo fought victoriously against the Spaniards in the Baoruco Mountain Range, in the southwest, to gain freedom for himself and his people in a part of the island. The Taínos were by then nearly extinct. Most of the survivors mixed with runaway African slaves, called cimarrones, producing zambos. The mestizos increased in number as native women conceived to European men.
By the mid-1500s the majority of Taíno people had died out from mistreatment, disease, suicide, the breakup of family unity, starvation,[5] forced labor, torture, and war with the Spaniards. In 1561 Bartolomé de las Casas wrote that when he reached Hispaniola in 1508 "There were 60,000 people living on this island, including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this?"[10] Due to the total lack of previous interaction with Europeans, and hence no previous exposure to European diseases, the Taíno had developed no immunity to smallpox — which they probably contracted in some cases via sexual relations with Europeans — and other contagious diseases, resulting in a catastrophic loss of life that some have termed a genocide. The Taíno bloodline in Hispaniola diluted more and more as the decades went by, primarily due to the establishment of Africans and Mulattos on the island; however, it is believed that many Dominicans today retain some native ancestry.[11]
In 1496 Bartolomeo Columbus, Christopher's brother, built the city of Nueva Isabela (New Isabella), now Santo Domingo, in the south of Hispaniola. It was one of the first Spanish settlements, and became Europe's first permanent settlement in the New World. The Spaniards created a plantation economy on Hispaniola, particularly from the second half of the 16Template:Th century.[7] The island became a springboard for European conquest of the Caribbean islands, called "Antilles", and soon after, the (then yet-unnamed) South American mainland, including what is modern-day coastal Venezuela and Colombia. Santo Domingo colony was for decades the headquarters of Spanish power in the New World. However, with the conquest of the mainland empires of the Aztecs and Incas, Hispaniola declined and Spain paid ever less attention to it. French bucaneers settled in the western part of the island, and in the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick Spain ceded that part of Hispaniola to France. It grew into the wealthy colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), with four times the population of Santo Domingo at the end of the 18th century.[12]
[edit] French rule
France came to own the whole island in 1795, when in the Treaty of Basel Spain ceded Santo Domingo as a consequence of the French Revolutionary Wars. At the time the slaves in the western part (Haiti), led by Toussaint Louverture, were in revolt against France. In 1801 Toussaint Louverture captured Santo Domingo from the French, thus gaining control of the entire island. However, an army sent by Napoleon captured him and sent him prisoner to France in 1802; still, Toussaint Louverture's successors, and yellow fever, expelled the French again from Haiti and gained independence, although France went on to recover Spanish Santo Domingo. In 1808, following Napoleon's invasion of Spain, the criollos of Santo Domingo revolted against French rule, and with Britain's (Spain's ally) and even Haiti's help,[13] returned Santo Domingo to Spanish control.[14]
[edit] The Ephemeral Independence of Haití Español and Haitian rule
After a dozen years of Spanish misrule and neglect and failed independence plots by various groups, former Spanish lieutenant-governor José Núñez de Cáceres declared the colony's independence as the state of Haití Español (Spanish Haiti) on November 30, 1821, requesting admission to Simón Bolívar's Gran Colombia. But the new nation's independence was short-lived, as Haitian forces, led by Jean-Pierre Boyer, invaded just nine weeks later in February 1822.[15] As Toussaint Louverture had done the first time, the Haitians abolished slavery; they also dispossessed the white landowners and closed down the university. Most whites fled Santo Domingo for Puerto Rico, Cuba (both under Spanish rule), and other nations. Pro-independence, pro-Spanish, pro-French, pro-British and other movements gathered force following the overthrow of Jean Pierre Boyer in 1843.
[edit] Independence
In 1838 Juan Pablo Duarte founded a secret society called La Trinitaria that sought pure and simple independence of Santo Domingo without any foreign intervention.[16] Ramón Matías Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, (the latter one having African ancestry[17] in spite of not being among the founding members, went on to be decisive in the fight for independence and are now hailed, along with Duarte, as the Founding Fathers of the Dominican Republic. On February 27, 1844, the Trinitarios, as the members of La Trinitaria were known, declared independence from Haiti, backed by Pedro Santana, a wealthy cattle-rancher from El Seibo who became general of the army of the nascent Republic and is known as "El Liberador." The Dominican Republic's first Constitution was adopted on November 6, 1844, and was modeled after the United States Constitution.[3]
Yet the decades that followed were filled with tyranny, factionalism, economic difficulties, rapid changes of government, and exile for political opponents. Archrivals Santana and Buenaventura Báez held power most of the time, both ruling arbitrarily. They promoted competing plans to annex the new nation to another power: Santana favored Spain, and Báez the United States.
[edit] Re-colonization and the Restoration War
In 1861, after forcibly silencing or exiling many of his opponents and mainly due to political and economic reasons, Santana signed a pact with the Spanish Crown and reverted the Dominican nation to a colonial status,[18] the only Latin American country to do so. Opponents launched the War of the Restoration in 1863, led by two men: General Ulises Heureaux (of Haitian origin[19]) and General Gregorio Luperón. Haitian authorities, fearful of the re-establishment of Spain as colonial power on their border, gave refuge and logistics to Dominican revolutionaries to re-establish independence.[18] The United States, then fighting its own Civil War, vigorously protested the Spanish action. After two years of fighting, the Spanish troops abandoned the island.[18] The Restoration was proclaimed on August 16, 1865.
Political strife again prevailed in the years that followed; warlords ruled, military revolts were extremely common, and the nation amassed debt. In 1869 it was the turn of Báez to act on his plan of annexing the country to the United States,[15] with a payment of 1.5 million dollars by the U.S. as part of the deal, in order to alleviate the Dominican Republic's debt woes.[20][3] U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant supported this plan, but the United States Senate refused on June 30, 1870,[15] albeit by just one vote. President Grant thought that former American slaves could go to the Dominican Republic and live in peace, free of harassment by Southern whites.[21]
Báez was toppled in 1874, returned, and was toppled for good in 1878. A new generation was now entirely in charge, with the passing of Santana — he died in 1864 — and Báez from the scene. Relative peace came to the country in the 1880s,[22] which saw the coming to power of General Ulises Heureaux.
The new president was initially popular.[23] He was, however, "a consummate dissembler", who put the nation deep into debt while the proceeds were not put consistenly to the benefit of his countrymen.[23] Heureaux's rule became more despotic with time and he all the more unpopular.[24][23] In 1899 he was assassinated. However, the unprecentedly long calm over which he'd presided allowed for some improvement in the Dominican economy. The sugar industry was modernized,[25] and the country attracted foreign workers and immigrants, both from the Old World and the New.
From 1902 on, short-lived governments were again the norm and provincial leaders held much of the power. Furthermore, the national government was bankrupt and, unable to pay its debts, faced the threat of military intervention by France and other European powers seeking repayment.
[edit] U.S. assistance
It was this situation that U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt sought to prevent, in great part in order to protect the vicinity of the Panama Canal, which was then under construction.[23] He made a small military intervention to ward off the European powers, proclaimed his famous Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and in 1906 the Dominican Republic and the United States entered into a 50-year treaty giving control of customs administration to the United States.[3] In exchange the United States agreed to use the customs proceeds to help reduce the immense foreign debt of the Dominican Republic,[3] and even assumed responsibility for said debt.[23]
In 1914, the United States, due to extreme political internal instability in the Dominican Republic (inability to elect a president), expressed concern and stated that a leader must be elected, or the United States would impose one.[26] As a result, Ramón Báez Machado was elected provisional president on August 27, 1914.[26] Presidential elections held on October 25 returned Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra to the presidency. Despite his victory, however, Jimenes felt impelled to appoint leaders and prominent members of the various political factions to positions in his government in an effort to broaden its support. The internecine conflicts that resulted had quite the opposite effect, weakening the government and the President and emboldening Secretary of War Desiderio Arias to take control of both the armed forces and the Congress, which he compelled to impeach Jimenes for violation of the constitution and the laws. Although the United States ambassador offered military support to his government, Jimenes opted to step down on May 7, 1916.
Arias never assumed the presidency formally. The United States government, apparently tired of its recurring role as mediator, had decided to take more direct action. By this time, U.S. forces were occupying Haiti. The initial military administrator of Haiti, Rear Admiral William Caperton, had actually forced Arias to retreat from Santo Domingo by threatening the city with naval bombardment on May 13, 1916.
[edit] U.S. intervention
The first Marines landed three days later, on May 19. Although they established effective control of the country within two months, the United States forces did not proclaim a military government until November. Most Dominican laws and institutions remained intact under military rule, although the shortage of Dominicans willing to serve in the Cabinet forced the military governor, Rear Admiral Harry S. Knapp, to fill a number of portfolios with United States naval officers. The press and radio were censored for most of the occupation, and public speech was limited.
The surface effects of the occupation were largely positive. The Marines restored order throughout most of the republic (with the exception of the eastern region); the country's budget was balanced, its debt was diminished, and economic growth resumed. Infrastructure projects produced new roads that linked all the country's regions for the first time in its history. A professional military organization, the Dominican Constabulary Guard, replaced the partisan forces that had waged a seemingly endless struggle for power. Most Dominicans, however, greatly resented the loss of their sovereignty to foreigners, few of whom spoke Spanish or displayed much real concern for the welfare of the republic.
The most intense opposition to the occupation arose in the eastern provinces of El Seibo and San Pedro de Macorís. From 1917 to 1921, the United States forces battled a guerrilla movement in that area known as the "gavilleros". The guerrillas enjoyed considerable support among the population, and they benefited from a superior knowledge of the terrain. The movement survived the capture and the execution of its leader, Vicente Evangelista, and some initially fierce encounters with the Marines. However, the gavilleros eventually yielded to the occupying forces' superior firepower, air power (a squadron of six Curtis Jennies), and determined (often brutal) counter-insurgency methods.
After World War I, public opinion in the United States began to run against the occupation. U.S. President Warren G. Harding, who succeeded Woodrow Wilson in March 1921, had campaigned against the occupations of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In June 1921, United States representatives presented a withdrawal proposal, known as the Harding Plan, which called for Dominican ratification of all acts of the military government, approval of a loan of US$2.5 million for public works and other expenses, the acceptance of United States officers for the constabulary — now known as the National Guard (Guardia Nacional) — and the holding of elections under United States supervision.
Popular reaction to the plan was overwhelmingly negative. Moderate Dominican leaders, however, used the plan as the basis for further negotiations that resulted in an agreement allowing for the selection of a provisional president to rule until elections could be organized. Under the supervision of High Commissioner Sumner Welles, Juan Bautista Vicini Burgos assumed the provisional presidency on October 21, 1922. In the presidential election of March 15, 1924, former President Horacio Vásquez Lajara handily defeated Francisco J. Peynado. Vásquez's Alliance Party (Partido Alianza) also won a comfortable majority in both houses of Congress. With his inauguration on July 13, control of the republic returned to Dominican hands. He gave the country six years of good government, in which political and civil rights were respected and the economy grew strongly, in an atmosphere of peace.[27]
[edit] 1930 to 1980
The Dominican Republic was ruled by dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Trujillo ruled with an iron Fist, persecuting anyone who opposed his regime. There was considerable economic growth during his rule, although a great deal of the wealth went to the dictator and other regime elements. He renamed many towns and provinces after himself and members of his family, including the capital city Santo Domingo into Ciudad Trujillo (Trujillo city).
In 1937 Trujillo (who was himself one-quarter Haitian[28]), in an event known as the Parsley Massacre or in the Dominican Republic as El Corte (The Cutting),[29] ordered the Army to kill all Haitians on the Dominican side of the border. An estimated 17,000 to 35,000 Haitians were killed over approximately five days, from the night of October 2, 1937 through October 8, 1937. Haitians were cut down with machetes.[28][15] The soldiers of Trujillo would go out and interrogate anyone with dark skin, hold up a sprig of perejil (parsley) and pronounce what they were holding up. Haitians who spoke French and/or Kreyol said the "r" in perejil with a flat long pronunciation, while Dominicans said it with a trilled "r" sound.[29] This massacre was alleged to have been an attempt to seize money and property from Haitians living on the border.[30] As a result of this massacre the Dominican Republic agreed to pay Haiti $750,000.00, which was later reduced to US$525,000.[31][18] The Dominican government headed by Trujillo for a long time was supported by the USA,[32] the Catholic Church, and the Dominican elite; even after the death of Dominicans in the political opposition and over 17,000 Haitians.[29] Trujillo was assassinated on May 30, 1961 in Santo Domingo.
A democratically-elected government under leftist Juan Bosch took office in 1963, but was overthrown later in the year. After nineteen months of military rule, a pro-Bosch revolt took place in 1965. US Marines arrived in the Dominican Republic to restore order in Operation Powerpack, later to be joined by forces from the Organization of American States.[33] They remained in the country for over a year and left after supervising elections, in which they ensured the victory of Joaquín Balaguer, who had been Trujillo's last puppet president, over Bosch.
Balaguer remained in power as president for 12 years. His tenure was a period of repression of civil liberties, presumably to prevent pro-Cuba or pro-communist parties from gaining power in the country. Balaguer's rule was accompanied by a growing disparity between rich and poor.
[edit] Recent times
In 1978, Balaguer was succeeded in the presidency by opposition candidate Antonio Guzmán Fernández, of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). From 1978 to 1986, the Dominican Republic experienced a period of relative freedom and basic human rights. Balaguer regained the presidency in 1986, and was re-elected in 1990 and 1994, defeating PRD candidate José Francisco Peña Gómez, a former mayor of Santo Domingo. Both the national and international communities generally viewed these elections as a major fraud, leading to political pressure for Balaguer to step down. Balaguer responded by scheduling another presidential contest in 1996, which was won by Bosch's Dominican Liberation Party for the first time, with Leonel Fernández as its candidate. In 2000, Hipólito Mejía won the electorate when opposing candidates Danilo Medina and a very old Joaquín Balaguer decided that they would not force a runoff after the first got 49.8% of the votes. In 2004, Leonel Fernández was elected again, with 57% of the votes, defeating then-incumbent president Mejía.
[edit] Government and politics
The Dominican Republic is a representative democracy, with national powers divided among independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The President of the Dominican Republic appoints the cabinet, executes laws passed by the legislative branch, and is commander in chief of the armed forces. The president and vice president run for office on the same ticket and are elected by direct vote for 4-year terms. Legislative power is exercised by a bicameral Congress composed of the Senate (with 32 members) and the Chamber of Deputies (with 178 members).
The Dominican Republic has a multi-party political system with national elections every 2 years (alternating between presidential elections and congressional/municipal elections). Presidential elections are held in years evenly divisible by four. Congressional and municipal elections are held in even numbered years not divisible by four. International observers have found that presidential and congressional elections since 1996 have been generally free and fair. Elections are supervised by a Central Elections Board (JCE) of 9 members chosen for a four-year term by the newly elected Senate. JCE decisions on electoral matters are final.
Under the constitutional reforms negotiated after the 1994 elections, the 16-member Supreme Court of Justice is appointed by a National Judicial Council, which comprises the President, the leaders of both houses of Congress, the President of the Supreme Court, and an opposition or non-governing-party member. One other Supreme Court Justice acts as secretary of the Council, a non-voting position. The Supreme Court has sole authority over managing the court system and in hearing actions against the president, designated members of his cabinet, and members of Congress when the legislature is in session.
The Supreme Court hears appeals from lower courts and chooses members of lower courts. Each of the 31 provinces is headed by a presidentially appointed governor. Mayors and municipal councils to administer the 124 municipal districts and the National District (Santo Domingo) are elected at the same time as congressional representatives.[34]
[edit] Politics
The Dominican Republic holds elections every two years at both the presidential and the congressional levels. The country becomes highly politicized, as millions of dollars are spent in propaganda and campaigning. The political system is characterized by clientelism, which has corrupted the system throughout the years.[35]
There are many political parties and interest groups and, new in this scenario, civil organizations. The three major parties are the conservative Social Christian Reformist Party (Spanish: Partido Reformista Social Cristiano [PRSC]), in power 1966–78 and 1986–96; the social democratic Dominican Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Dominicano [PRD]), in power in 1963, 1978–86, and 2000–04); and the liberal Dominican Liberation Party (Spanish: Partido de la Liberación Dominicana [PLD]), in power 1996–2000 and since 2004.
International organization participation
ACP, Caricom (observer), ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (subscriber), ITU, LAES, LAIA (observer), NAM (observer), OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WToO, WTrO.
[edit] Provinces and municipalities
The Dominican Republic is divided into 31 provinces. Additionally, the national capital, Santo Domingo, is contained within its own Distrito Nacional (National District). Please note that the names of provincial capital cities are provided in parentheses where they differ from the name of their respective provinces.
The provinces are divided into municipalities (municipios; singular municipio). They are the second–level political and administrative subdivisions of the country.
* The national capital, also known as Distrito Nacional (D.N.), is the city of Santo Domingo.
[edit] Geography
The Dominican Republic is situated on the eastern part of the second largest island in the Greater Antilles, Hispaniola. The Dominican Republic shares the island roughly at a 2:1 ratio with Haiti. The whole country measures an area of 48,921 km² making it the second largest country in the Antilles after Cuba.[36] The country's mainland has three mountain ranges, those being Cordillera Central (starting from Haiti towards east crossing the island), Cordillera Septentrional, and Cordillera Oriental in the East. In between the Central and Septentrional mountain ranges lies the rich and fertile Cibao valley. This major valley is home to the city of Santiago de los Caballeros and to most of the farming areas in the nation. The country's capital and greatest metropolitan area, Santo Domingo, is located at the southern shore.
The Dominican Republic has the highest peak in the Caribbean, named Pico Duarte(3,087 m / 10,128 ft above sea level) and the biggest lake in the Caribbean, Lake Enriquillo.[37]
The Dominican Republic has many rivers, including the navigable Soco, Higuamo, Romana (also known as 'Rio Dulce'), Yaque del Norte, Yaque del Sur, Yuna River, Yuma, and Bajabonico. The two largest islands near shore are Saona Island in the southeast and Beata Island in the southwest. 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 and Mouchoir Bank. Navidad Bank and Silver Bank have been officially claimed by the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic uses its rivers and streams to create electricity, and many hydro-electric plants and dams have been created on rivers, including the Bao, Nizao, Ozama, and Higuamo.
[edit] 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.
There are many lakes and coastal lagoons; the largest lake is Lago Enriquillo, a saline lake at 40 m below sea level (the lowest point in the West Indies. Other important lakes are Laguna de Rincón or Cabral, with freshwater, and Laguna de Oviedo, a lagoon with brackish water.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Valleys and plains
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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.[38]
[edit] Climate
The country is a tropical, maritime nation. Wet season is from May to November, and periodic hurricanes between June and November. Most rain falls in the northern and eastern regions. The average rainfall is 1346 mm, with extremes of 2500 mm in the northeast and 500 mm in the west. The main annual temperature ranges from 21 °C in the mountainous regions to 25 °C on the plains and the coast. The average temperature in Santo Domingo in January is 25 °C and 30 °C in July.
[edit] Environmental issues
Bajos de Haina, Template:Convert west of Santo Domingo, was included on the Blacksmith Institute's list of the world's 10 most polluted places, released in October 2006, due to lead poisoning by a battery recycling smelter closed in 1999. As the site never was cleaned up children continue to be born with high lead levels causing learning disabilities, impaired physical growth and kidney damage.[39][40]
[edit] Symbols, cultural institutions and monuments
Some of the important symbols include the flag of the Dominican Republic, the coat of arms, and the national anthem, titled Himno Nacional. The flag has a large white cross that divides it into four quarters. Two quarters are red and two are blue. Red represents the blood shed by the liberators. Blue expresses God's protection over the nation. The white cross symbolizes the struggle of the liberators to bequeath future generations a free nation. An alternate interpretation is that blue represents the ideals of progress and liberty, whereas white symbolizes peace and union amongst Dominicans.[41] In the center of the cross is the Dominican coat of arms, in the same colors as the national flag.
The national flower is the flower of the West Indies Mahogany[42] The national bird is the Cigua Palmera or Palmchat.[43]
Among the national monuments are:
The Museum of the Dominican Man, with the mission of studying, protecting, and promoting the national culture and to conserve and exhibit materials relating to the full sweep of Dominican history, both pre- and post-Columbian.[44]
El Alcázar de Colón (Diego Columbus' Castle) is the seat of the Americas' first viceroyalty. The palace is a national monument and museum, containing more than 800 pieces, including ceramics, tapestries, sculptures, furniture, and paintings, some of these dating from the thirteenth century to the twentieth.[45]
The country has America's first cathedral, Catedral Metropolitana de Santa María de la Encarnación. It was begun in 1512 and consecrated in 1541. It is built in the Gothic style and has an Italian facade with Renaissance decoration. In its interior it contains quite a treasure trove of art, from furniture to paintings to bells to fine woodwork and more.[46]
The Museo Faro a Colón, or Columbus Lighthouse Museum began construction in 1986 under President Joaquín Balaguer, and was completed in 1992, in time for the Quincentenary of Columbus' first voyage to the New World. The original idea goes back to Antonio Del Monte y Tejada, a Dominican historian, in 1852; the design was the work of the architect J.L. Gleave. It consists of an enormous cross, flat on the ground, facing the sky and bursting with lights. It houses the remains of Columbus, although Spain and Cuba also claim to have them. The lighthouse burns so brightly it can be seen from Puerto Rico, and is quite a tourist attraction.[47]
[edit] Economy
[edit] Recent years
- See also: Economy of the Dominican Republic
- See also: Dominican Peso
The Dominican Republic is an lower middle-income developing country primarily dependent on natural resources and government services[48]. Although the service sector has recently overtaken agriculture as the leading employer of Dominicans (due principally to growth in tourism and Free Trade Zones), agriculture remains the most important sector in terms of domestic consumption and is in second place (behind mining) in terms of export earnings. Tourism accounts for more than $1.3 billion in annual earnings. Free Trade Zone earnings and tourism are the fastest-growing export sectors. Remittances ("remesas") from Dominicans living abroad are estimated to be about $1.3 billion per year.
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. This recession followed the collapse of the second commercial bank of the country (Baninter), linked to a major incident of fraud valued at 3.5 billion dollars during the administration of President Hipolito Mejia (2000-2004).
The Baninter fraud had a devastating effect on the Dominican economy, with GDP dropped by 1% in 2003 while inflation ballooned by over 27%. The growth of the Dominican economy remains significantly hampered by an ongoing energy shortage, which causes frequent blackouts and very high prices.
Despite a widening merchandise trade deficit, tourism earnings and remittances have helped build foreign exchange reserves. The Dominican Republic is current on foreign private debt, and has agreed to pay arrears of about $130 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation.
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, # 79 for human development, and #14 in the world for resource mismanagement. These statistics emphasize national government corruption, foreign economic interference in the country, and the rift between the rich and poor.
In the Trimestrial period of Jan-May 2007 the Dominican Economy experienced an exceptional growth of 9.1% in its GDP slightly lower than last years period by 1%. DR-CAFTA(trade agreement) and the Foreign Investment have been one that given great opportunity to the Dominican economy.[49]
The Dominican Republic has become transshipment point for South American drugs to Europe as well as the United States and Canada.[2] Money laundering is favored by Colombia via Dominican Republic for the ease of illicit financial transactions.[2]
The Dominican Republic enjoys a growing economy with CIA World Fact book stating a 10.7% Real growth percentage in 2006 even though Inflation holds at 8.2% in the economy. Enjoying A GDP(PPP) per Capita of $9,208 a relative high in Latin America. Service and the Financial Sector has amounted for this growth in the economy while the Construction Sector makes a big part too of the GDP.
Santo Domingo, the capital of the Republic is the source of most of is GDP and has become one of the leading cities of the Caribbean.
[edit] Currency
The Dominican peso is the national currency of the country, although US dollars (USD) are acceptable in most tourist sites. The peso was worth the same as the USD at one time, but has depreciated. The exchange rate in 1993 was 14.00 pesos per USD and 16.00 pesos in 2000, but it jumped to 53.00 pesos per USD in 2003. In 2004, the exchange rate was back down to around 31.00 pesos per USD.
The U.S. dollar is implicated in almost all commercial transactions of the Dominican Republic; such dollarization is common in high inflation economies. On February 2005, 1.32 USD = one € = 29 DR pesos; in October 2005, 1.19 USD = one € = 32 DR pesos. The International Monetary Fund revealed a growth of 7.6% over the inflation index for 2006, which implies that the national currency of the Dominican Republic could finish the year with an average basis between 32.70 and touching the 40 pesos per dollar roof. As of September 2007 the value of the peso is 1 USD=0.7006 EUR=33.430 DOP[50][51]
[edit] Demographics
[edit] Population
The population of Dominican Republic in 2007 was estimated by the United Nations at 9,760,000 which placed it as number 82 in population among the 193 nations of the world. In that year approximately 5% of the population was over 65 years of age, with another 35% of the population under 15 years of age. There were 103 males for every 100 females in the country in 2003. According to the UN, the annual population growth rate for 2006–2007 is 1.5%, with the projected population for the year 2015 at 10,121,000. The population density in 2002 was 180 per sq km (467 per sq mi). The southern coastal plains and the Cibao Valley are the most densely populated areas of the country.
It was estimated by the Population Reference Bureau that 65% of the population lived in urban areas in 2001. The capital city, Santo Domingo, had a population of 3,523,000 in that year. Other important cities are Santiago de los Caballeros, La Romana, San Pedro de Macorís, San Francisco de Macorís, and Concepción de la Vega. According to the United Nations, the urban population growth rate for 2000–2005 was 2.3%.[52]
[edit] Ethnic composition
According to the CIA World Fact Book, the ethnic composition of the Dominican population is, 73% Mixed, 16% White and 11% Black.[2]. Other ethnic groups in the Dominican Republic include Haitians, Germans, Italians, French, Jews, Spaniards, Chinese and Americans.[2] A smaller presence of East Asians (primarily ethnic Chinese and Japanese) and Middle Easterners (primarily Lebanese) can be found throughout the population.
[edit] Racial issues
As elsewhere in the Spanish Empire, the original Spanish colony of Hispaniola employed a social system known as Casta, wherein Peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain) occupied the highest echelon. These were followed, in descending order of social standing, by: criollos, castizos, mestizos, mulattoes, Indians, zambos, and lastly, black slaves.[53][54] The stigma of these social strata persisted for many years, reaching its culmination in the Trujillo regime, where the dictator used racial persecution and nationalistic fervor against Haitians. [55][29]
According to a study by the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, about 90% of the contemporary Dominican population has African ancestry or has African roots.[56] However, many Dominicans self-identify as being of mixed-race rather than "black" in contrast to African identity movements in other nations. Rather, a variety of terms are used to represent a range of skintones. These include "morena" (brown), "india" (Indian), "blanca oscura" (dark white), and "trigueño" (wheat colored).[57]
Many have claimed that this represents a reluctance to self-identify with African descent and the culture of the freed slaves.[58] According to Dr. Miguel Anibal Perdomo, professor of Dominican Identity and Literature at Hunter College in New York City, "There was a sense of 'deculturación' among the African slaves of Hispaniola. [There was] an attempt to erase any vestiges of African culture from the Dominican Republic. We were, in some way, brainwashed and we've become westernized."[59]
However, this view is not universal, as many also claim that Dominican culture is simply different and rejects the racial categorizations of other regions. Ramona Hernández, director of the Dominican Studies Institute at City College of New York asserts that the terms were originally an act of defiance in a time when being mulatto was stigmatized. "During the Trujillo regime, people who were dark skinned were rejected, so they created their own mechanism to fight it" She went on to explain "When you ask, 'What are you?' they don't give you the answer you want . . . saying we don't want to deal with our blackness is simply what you want to hear."[60] The Dominican Republic is not unique in this respect either. In a 1976 census survey conducted in Brazil, respondents described their skin color in 136 distinct terms.[60][61]
[edit] Religion
More than 95% of the population adheres to Christianity, mostly Roman Catholicism, followed by a growing contingent of Protestant groups such as Seventh-day Adventist, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Recent but small scale immigration has brought other religions such as Spiritist: 2.18%, Buddhist: 0.10%, Bahá'í: 0.07%, Muslim: 0.02%, and Jewish: 0.01%.[62]
Catholicism was introduced by Columbus and Spanish missionaries. Religion wasn’t really the foundation of their entire society, as it was in other parts of the world at the time, and most of the population didn’t attend church on a regular basis. Nonetheless, most of the education in the country was based upon the Catholic religion, as the Bible was required in the curriculum in all public schools. Children would use religious based dialogue when greeting a relative or parent. For example: a child would say “Bless me, mother,” and the mother would reply “May God bless you.”
Eventually the Catholic Church began to lose popularity in the late 1800s. This was due to a lack of funding, priests, and support programs. Because of this the Protestant evangelical movement began to gain support. Protestants emphasized biblical teachings like the Catholics, but also practiced rejuvenation and economic independence. The Protestants added diversity to the Dominican Republic, and there was almost no religious conflict with the Catholics.
There has always been religious freedom throughout the entire country. It wasn’t until the 1950s that restrictions were placed upon churches by Trujillo. Letters of protest were sent against the mass arrests of government adversaries. Trujillo began a campaign against the church and planned to arrest priests and bishops who preached against the government. This campaign ended before it was even put into place when he was shot.
Judaism appeared in the Dominican Republic in the late 1930s. During World War Two, a group of Jews escaping Nazi Germany fled to the Dominican Republic and founded the city of Sosua. It has remained to be the center of the Jewish population since.[63]
[edit] Education
Primary education is officially free and compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 14, although those who live in isolated areas have limited access to schooling. Primary schooling is followed by a two-year intermediate school and a four-year secondary course, after which a diploma called the bachillerato is awarded. Relatively few lower-income students succeed in reaching this level, because the system is designed to encourage middle- and upper-income students to prepare for admittance to a university. Most wealthier students attend private schools, which are frequently sponsored by religious institutions. Some public and private vocational education is available, particularly in the field of agriculture, but this too reaches only a tiny percentage of the population.[64]
[edit] Health statistics
The death rate of the Dominican Republic is 5.32/1000, [65] and the birth rate is 24.44.[66] Dengue and malaria are particularly common in the Dominican Republic.[67] There is currently a mission based in the United States to combat the AIDS rate in the Dominican Republic.[68]
[edit] Immigration
During the Haitian rule over the whole island of Hispaniola (1822-1844) former Black slaves and escapees from the United States were invited by the Haitian government to settle there.[citation needed] In the late 1800s and early 1900s large groups immigrated to the country from Venezuela and Puerto Rico, so much so that two of the country's former presidents and life long political rivals Juan Bosch[69] and Joaquín Balaguer[70][71] both had Puerto Rican parents. During the first decades of the 20th century many Arabs primarily from Lebanon settled in the country. There is also a sizable Indian and Chinese population. The town of Sosúa has many Jews who settled there during World War II.[72]
In recent decades, re-immigration from Haiti has increased once again. Most Haitian immigrants arrive in the Dominican Republic illegally, and work at low-paying, unskilled labor jobs, including construction work, household cleaning, and on sugar plantations.[73] Current estimates put the Haitian-born population in the Dominican Republic as high as 1 million.[74] Working conditions on these sugar plantations have recently caused controversy,[75] with assertions that conditions are near-slavery and a form of de facto apartheid[75][76]– with the children of illegal Haitian immigrants denied citizenship,[77] under the Dominican constitution,[78] and basic health care,[79] and frequent physical attacks and roundups on adult immigrants.[80] However, some Dominican and Haitian officials deny such accusations of slavery, with the Haitian ambassador Fritz Cineas stated "I still have not received any complaint of violation of human rights against the Haitian immigrants in the country".[81] However, the President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernández Reyna stated publicly during a seminar on immigration policy that collective expulsions of Haitians were carried out "in an abusive and inhuman way".[82] Open wounds exist between Haiti and the Dominican Republic due to the selective enforcement of deportation rules it has been said that "Dominicans could help heal many of Haiti's open political wounds by extraditing back to Haiti many of the criminals of the 1991 coup d'etat and the Duvalier dictatorship who enjoy de facto political asylum in the Dominican Republic."[83] When asked for a response for the current situation, Fernandez stated "There must exist an extradition treaty between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, but there isn't one between our two countries,"[84] Exploitation of Haitians immigrants in the Dominican Republic is the subject of the 2007 political documentary narrated by Paul Newman, The Price of Sugar.
[edit] Stateless Haitians
There has been an ongoing situation with the immigration of Haitian nationals into the Dominican Republic. Haiti, a nation with a similar population but with 1/2 the land size, is much poorer than the Dominican Republic. Many Haitian nationals come to the Dominican Republic in search of work, but are often relegated to second class status.[85] Due to a "right of blood" similar to that in Italy, many children of Haitian nationals born in the Dominican Republic are not granted citizenship. This is due to the fact that their parents are deemed to be transient in nature.[86] As a result many Dominican-born Haitians are born without a nation or citizenship.[87] Competition for jobs have led to the deportation of many Haitians in an effort to save native Dominican rights.[88] Unofficially there are 800,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic accounting for almost 10% of the population.[89] "Our border with Haiti has its problems, this is our reality and it must be understood. Foreign Minister Morales stated It is important not to confuse national sovereignty with indifference, and not to confuse security with xenophobia,"[90]