A Beginner’s Guide to the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic country data:
Located on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean region, the Dominican Republic is a
nation with two shared island countries. Dominican Republic is the second largest
Caribbean nation after Cuba both by population and by area. Your island is occupied by
Haitian nation. His motto is “God, Country, Freedom”. In English, “God, Country,
Freedom” is the motto of the country.
History of the Dominican Republic:
The Taínos advanced towards Hispaniola and displaced the first inhabitants.
Their professions were hunting, gathering, farming and fishing. In the meantime,
during the fifteenth century, the Caribs expelled the Tainos to the northeast
Caribbean. In 1492, the island had been divided into 5 Taino chiefdoms. In 1492,
Christopher Columbus, a Spanish ruler, arrived on the island, on one of his four
travels, and claimed the island for Spain and named it Hispaniola. later,
Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, built the city of Santo
Sunday. The Taínos disappeared from the area. Santo Domingo got its population
increased from 6,000 in 1737 to 125,000 in 1790. In the late eighteenth century, with
Effect of the French Revolution, Spain neglected its possessions and ceded territory to France.
The slaves, led by Toussaint Louverture, from Santo Domingo rebelled against
France. In 1801, they took control of the entire island. Later, Toussaint was
sent to jail and the revolt continued. In 1808, with the help of Great Britain, Santo
Domingo was again handed over to Spanish control.
After some failures and discontent, the Vice Governor of Santo Domingo, José
Núñez de Cáceres declared the colony’s independence as Spanish Haiti in
November 30, 1821. Haitians, like Toussaint, abolished the chains of slavery
and all private property, as a result of the invasion, was nationalized. In February
On January 27, 1844, the Dominican Republic gained independence following Duarte, Sánchez and
Nick; the founding fathers of the country.
Currently, following the democratic system, as a result of the elections, Fernández is
Dominican republican leader since 2004 because he was re-elected in 2008.
Demographics of the Dominican Republic:
The population of the Dominican Republic in 2007, estimated by the United Nations,
it was 9,760,000. It is the 82nd largest nation in the world by its population in
193 nations around the world. The annual population growth rate in 2007 was
1.5% and may increase the population in 2015 to 10,121,000. Furthermore, the urban
The areas are 63% populated and the Cibao Valley and southern coastal plains are the densely populated areas of this nation. In the capital city, Santo Domingo, the population resides above 3,014,000.
Economy of the Dominican Republic:
In Central America and the Caribbean, according to the US Department of State, the
The economy of the Dominican Republic is the second largest economy. you can call
as a middle-income developing country with a GDP per capita of $9,208 in PPP terms
which seems relatively very high in Latin America. It had an exceptional growth in
its GDP of 9.1%. Most of the time, growth was led by imports, exports, financial
and foreign investment in the country. The people of the country depend
mainly in natural resources and government services. Farming stalls in the
second place, after mining, in terms of income for Dominicans.
The government services sector has grown in recent years and free trade
Zones are the fastest export sectors for profits. In 2007, real estate tourism
posted profits of $1.5 billion. The economy is growing despite the fact
of chronic energy shortage. Remittances and income from tourism have helped
accumulate foreign exchange reserves.
By following different types of turbulence observed in the late 1980s, the Dominican Republic
Republic entered the period of declining inflation and rising growth
until 2002 and in this way, the internal product fell up to 5% and the economy
the country entered a recession. In the same years, the fraud of the
The president of the Dominican Republic, Hipólito Mejía, led the country to the loss of $3.5
billion that made the country towards the devastating effect. Inflation
more than 27% were shot as a result and all the defenders were sentenced.
According to the 2005 United Nations report, the country is classified in the
everyone on 71 for resource availability. It is No.79 for human development.
and No.14 in the world for mismanagement of resources. In this way, these statistics
emphasize the economic interference of the national government, corruption and the fissure
between the poor and the rich.
Ethnicity of the Dominican Republic:
In the CIA fact book, it is stated that the Dominican Republic consists of 73%
multiracial population, 11% black and 16% white. In the multiracial population,
people from European and African countries are in greater numbers and the Tainos
element can be seen clearly in the population. In 2010 it was published that
15% of Dominicans have Taíno ancestry and more than 70% have African genes.
According to the UN envoy, in 2007, the racism of Dominicans against blacks in
in general and against Haitians in particular is rampant in all segments of the
country.
Dominican Republic Religion: In the Dominican Republic, more than 68.9% of the people are Roman Catholic and 10.6% are infidels and another 2.3% have some other religion to follow. In other sources, it has been noted that the proportion of irreligious people is 7% and almost 10%. The Dominican Republic is completely independent to follow the religion, since it does not establish restrictions on the population and everyone can follow the religion of their own free will in the country.
Languages of the Dominican Republic:
In the Dominican Republic, Spanish is imposed as the national language and all
The schools are based on the Spanish educational model. So speaking Spanish is the
normal trend of the country, except for some new immigrants. Furthermore, schools are
also based on the same language, where English is taught as a secondary
language in all private schools. Furthermore, the people of Haiti
ancestors speak Haitian Creole in the country. Dominican Republic is supporting the
inhabitants to learn English to occupy a high position in the modern world.
Crime rate in the Dominican Republic:
The Dominican Republic got its popularity from money laundering
cases and other cases of theft in the country. It has become popular for a
transshipment point for Colombian drugs shipped to Europe, Canada
and the United States. In addition, the Colombian drug cartels consider Dominicans
Republic as a favorite for money laundering due to the ease of financial illicit
proceedings. In the recent year 2004, it has been observed that 8% of the cocaine has been
smuggled into the United States through the Dominican Republic. In this way, the country
tried to respond to the growing proportion of crime and money laundering for the
for the sake of seizing their drug shipments by arresting and extraditing those involved.
The light treatment of the law of the Dominican Republic has been a continuous source
for the local controversy since five teenagers, including 2 women, while intoxicated, shot local
area and killed two taxi drivers and were later sentenced for only 3-5
years in prison. So the crime rate is reasonable for the country and the
protective measures are being taken to reduce it.
Dominican Republic Electricity:
Electricity has been the permanent cause of headache for the country and it is
unreliable since the Trujillo era and 75% of the equipment used for the production of
electricity is old The privatization of the electric power company has led to the
country network causes transmission losses. In this way, the country is taking electricity
now only from generators. In recent years, 95% of users have no bill to pay.
and 2.1 million homes do not have meters for the calculation. Therefore, the fixed
amount or price that is being taken from users for the electric service. Most parts of the country have better access to electricity and tourist areas.
they tend to provide better access to it for reliable power services. Electricity
The sector is under the influence of politics and is highly politicized by politicians.
In addition, generating companies are always undercapitalized, most of the time,
to purchase fuel supplies for adequate power supply.
Transportation from the Dominican Republic:
The Dominican Republic includes three national trunk highways, including DR-1,
DR-2 and DR-3. These highways start from the capital city to the north,
southwest and east of the Dominican Republic, respectively. In the same
manner, these highways have been consistently upgraded to better highways with the
expansion of many sections with reconstruction. Two other highways, including DR-4
and DR-5 function as a branch and routes for the country and function as an alternative source
for transportation when roads are treated in the process of reconstruction. So in the
In recent years, the 106-kilometre toll highway has been built linking Santo
Sunday with the Peninsula in the northeastern part of the country.