Source: Britannica
Dominican Republic, country of the West Indies that occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola, the second largest island of the Greater Antilles chain in the Caribbean Sea. Haiti, also an independent republic, occupies the western third of the island. The Dominican Republic’s shores are washed by the Caribbean to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. Between the eastern tip of the island and Puerto Rico flows the Mona Passage, a channel about 80 miles (130 km) wide. The Turks and Caicos Islands are located some 90 miles (145 km) to the north, and Colombia lies about 300 miles (500 km) to the south. The republic’s area, which includes such adjacent islands as Saona, Beata, and Catalina, is about half the size of Portugal. The national capital is Santo Domingo, on the southern coast.
Dominican Republic and Haiti
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The Dominican Republic has much in common with the countries of Latin America (with which it is often grouped), and some writers have referred to the country as a microcosm of that region. Dominicans have experienced political and civil disorder, ethnic tensions, export-oriented booms and busts, and long periods of military rule, including a Haitian occupation (1822–44), the oppressive dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (1930–61), and military interventions by the United States (1916–24 and 1965–66). However, the nation’s troubles have paled in comparison with those of neighbouring Haiti. The two countries have long been strategic because of their proximity to the United States and their positions on major sea routes leading to the Caribbean and the Panama Canal.
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Head Of State And Government: President
Capital: Santo Domingo
Population: (2021 est.) 10,614,000
Form Of Government: multiparty republic with two legislative houses (Senate [32]; Chamber of Deputies [190])
Official Language: Spanish
The land
Relief, drainage, and soils
The Dominican Republic includes the highest and lowest elevations in the West Indies. Its major mountain ranges and elongated, fertile valleys mainly extend from northwest to southeast.
The Cordillera Septentrional, the northernmost range, looms above a narrow coastal plain drained by such short rivers as the Balabonico and the Yasica. The southern slopes of the mountains give way to the extensive Cibao Valley, which stretches from Manzanillo Bay in the northwest to the Samaná Peninsula and the Bay of Samaná in the east. The valley’s fertile soils are fed by two of the nation’s main river systems: the Yaque del Norte, which flows generally northwestward, and the Camu-Yuna system, which flows eastward.
The Cordillera Central, the island’s most rugged and imposing feature, is known in Haiti as the Massif du Nord (“Northern Massif”). In Dominican territory its crest line averages some 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) in elevation and rises to 10,417 feet (3,175 metres) at Duarte Peak, the highest mountain in the Caribbean. Other prominent peaks are Yaque, La Rucilla, Bandera, and Mijo. Tributaries of the Yaque del Norte drain most of the range’s northern flanks, whereas its southern flanks are drained by the Yaque del Sur system and the Ocoa, Nizao, and other smaller rivers. The San Juan River, one of the Yaque del Sur’s main tributaries, is the centrepiece of the fertile San Juan Valley, which connects with Haiti’s Central Plateau via the upper Artibonite River valley.
Bounding the San Juan Valley to the south is the Sierra de Neiba, which corresponds to the Matheux and Trou d’Eau mountains of Haiti; its high peaks reach approximately 7,200 feet (2,200 metres). Water flowing off the Neiba range drains partly to the Caribbean, via the Yaque del Sur system, and partly inland, to saline Lake Enriquillo. Enriquillo is the country’s largest natural lake, about 23 miles (37 km) long and up to 11 miles (18 km) wide; the lake’s surface is also the lowest point in the West Indies, at 144 feet (44 metres) below sea level. The Dominican Republic’s southernmost range, the Sierra de Baoruco (Bahoruco), is called the Massif de la Selle in Haiti; it overlooks Cape Beata and the arid southwestern plain, including the largely infertile Pedernales region.
The Cordillera Oriental forms the country’s less-rugged eastern spine, separating a narrow coastal plain to the north from a wider belt of rolling lowlands to the south, where most of the country’s sugarcane is grown. The region’s main rivers all flow to the Caribbean, including the Ozama, which reaches the coast at Santo Domingo, and the Macorís, Soco, Chavón, and Yuma.
The country’s most fertile alluvial soils are located in the valleys of the Yaque del Norte, Yuna, San Juan, and Yaque del Sur rivers, as well as the Ozama and various smaller rivers in the southeast. The mountain slopes have lower-quality soils and are generally covered in forests and grasslands. Salt deposited around Lake Enriquillo creates some of the nation’s only unproductive soils.
Climate
The Dominican Republic has a moderate, relatively mild tropical climate, although it lies well within the tropical zone. Conditions are ameliorated in many areas by elevation and by the northeast trade winds, which blow steadily from the Atlantic all year long. The annual mean temperature is 77 °F (25 °C); regional mean temperatures range from 69 °F (21 °C) in the heart of the Cordillera Central to as high as 82 °F (28 °C) on the coastal plains. Temperatures rarely rise above 90 °F (32 °C), and freezing temperatures are unknown.
The heaviest precipitation is in the mountainous northeast (the windward side of the island), where the average annual rainfall is more than 100 inches (2,540 mm). As the trade winds pass over the country, they lose their moisture on various mountain slopes, so that the far western and southwestern valleys, along the Haitian border, remain relatively dry, with less than 30 inches (760 mm) of annual precipitation. The northwestern and southeastern extremes of the country are also arid. The Dominican Republic is occasionally damaged by tropical storms and hurricanes, which originate in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern Caribbean from August until October each year; hurricanes in 1930, 1954, 1979, and 1998 were particularly devastating.
Plant and animal life
Vegetation varies considerably, but there is generally more ground cover in the Dominican Republic than in neighbouring Haiti. The mountains are still largely forested with pines and tropical hardwoods, although the trees on the lower and more accessible slopes have been severely cut for use as charcoal and commercial lumber. In the drier regions low shrubs and scrub predominate, but grasslands and dense rainforests occur where there is heavier precipitation. Royal palms grow throughout much of the country. Cultivated crops have largely replaced the natural vegetation in many areas, particularly in the more fertile upland valleys and on the lower mountain slopes. Mangrove swamps line some coastal areas, whereas extensive sandy beaches are found elsewhere, notably along the northern shore.
Wild animals are not abundant; for several centuries cattle and goats, introduced by the early Spanish colonists, ran wild on the grasslands and in the desert areas. Alligators are found near the mouths of the Yaque rivers and in the waters of Lake Enriquillo. A great variety of birds, including ducks, are hunted. Fish and shellfish inhabit the surrounding waters, particularly within the coral reefs.
Settlement patterns
The nation’s coasts and interior plains have been inhabited since Arawak Indians maintained villages there in pre-Columbian times. Settlement from the late 15th century was closely tied to sugarcane plantations and export-oriented commerce. Throughout the colonial period the population of European colonists and African slaves grew slowly, and their mulatto (mixed African and European) descendents now predominate in most regions of the country. People of mainly European descent inhabit the southeastern savannas, which include large sugar plantations, cattle ranches, and small and medium-size farms. However, the southeastern coastline itself is increasingly inhabited by Blacks from Haiti and other West Indian nations who have gone there to work on the plantations, in the mills, or on the docks; most are temporary or seasonal workers. Many of the inhabitants of the town of Azua and its environs are the descendants of immigrants from the Canary Islands.
Dominican Republic: Urban-rural
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Santo Domingo, the nation’s largest city, is central to one of the nation’s most densely populated regions; founded by the Spanish in 1496, it was the first permanent town established by Europeans in the Americas. The Cibao Valley is also densely settled, particularly in its central and eastern sections at Santiago, San Francisco de Macorís, and La Vega. Santiago, the nation’s second largest city, vies with Santo Domingo in political, cultural, and economic matters. Secondary coastal centres include La Romana and San Pedro de Macorís in the southeast, Barahona in the southwest, and Puerto Plata in the north. South of the Cordillera Central lies an alluvial plain where rice is grown; its population is centred on San Juan de la Maguana.
Traditionally, the Dominican Republic had a large rural population, but growing numbers have moved to cities and towns since the mid-20th century, and today about fourth-fifths of the population is urban In rural areas some settlements exist as well-defined villages, but most take the form of scattered neighbourhoods, typically clustered around a small store or church or stretched along a roadside, with cultivated patches behind the houses. In addition, there are still many households so isolated from roadways that they can be reached only on foot or horseback.
The people
Ethnicity
The population of the Dominican Republic is predominantly of mixed African and European ethnicity, and there are small Black and white minorities. It has long been believed that few people are descended, even indirectly, from the indigenous Taino peoples, who were largely decimated by disease, warfare, and the effects of forced labour shortly after their first contact with Europeans. Some scholars, however, have argued that Taino legacy is more pronounced than this, both genetically in the current population and in terms of survival elements in Dominican language and material culture.
Dominican Republic: Ethnic composition
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The colonizing whites, mostly Spaniards, were joined in the 19th and 20th centuries by immigrants from East Asia and from such European countries as France, Italy, England, and Germany, as well as by small numbers of Sephardic Jews and Arabs from North Africa and the Middle East. This last group of immigrants at first competed with Chinese peddlers and shopkeepers in the rural areas, but most later moved to the cities, where they now occupy positions in commerce and industry. The Chinese particularly established themselves in the hotel and restaurant business. A small group of Japanese developed truck farming in the Constanza River valley before World War II, and their descendants are now found throughout the republic. Intermarriage among all these groups has blurred, but not erased, their ethnic origins.
The exact African heritage of the large Black population is unknown, although many of their ancestors arrived as slaves from West Africa. Some were brought in within the first two decades of the Spanish conquest to work in mines and early sugar plantations. Others came indirectly, via the French colony of Saint-Domingue (later independent Haiti), particularly during the early 19th century when Haitian troops occupied the Dominican Republic. Haitian workers without immigration papers have long crossed over the mountainous frontier between the two countries; other Haitians have worked legally in the south as itinerant cane cutters, and some have found ways to remain after their contracts expired.
Language and religion
The Spanish language has always been predominant, although English is becoming more common because of continued emigration to the United States—which has been accompanied by continual visiting back and forth—plus some repatriation. A French Creole is spoken among Haitian immigrants.
More than four-fifths of the people are adherents to the Roman Catholic church, which exerts a marked influence on all levels of cultural, political, and economic life. Many of the religious beliefs and practices of the rural populace are syncretic, rooted in the cultures of both the early Spanish and African communities. Evangelical groups account for a small but growing segment of the population. There are a few adherents of Judaism and other religions.
Demographic trends
The rate of population increase in the Dominican Republic is greater than in most other West Indian nations, and about three-tenths of the population is less than 15 years of age. Both birth and death rates in the republic have long been higher than the regional average, although they have been lower than in Haiti (see Health and welfare).
Dominican Republic: Age breakdown
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The country experienced one of the world’s highest urbanization rates in the late 20th century: in 1950 roughly one-fourth of Dominicans lived in cities, but by the late 1990s nearly two-thirds of the population was urban. Santo Domingo expanded into formerly rural zones as it became more crowded, and its urban slums grew as well. Santiago, La Romana, and other cities also grew considerably.
The Dominican Republic’s high rate of emigration has been primarily directed to New York City and other cities in the United States. Since the mid-1960s more than one-tenth of the total population has emigrated, principally to improve their economic situation; many have been illegal immigrants. The outward flow of people alleviated the strain on local resources (notably housing, water supplies, and food production) while boosting many families’ incomes with remittances of cash and consumer goods.
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The economy
The Dominican Republic has a mixed economy based largely on services (including tourism and finance), trade, manufacturing, telecommunications, and construction; agriculture and remittances from the many Dominicans living abroad are also important. Agricultural production (mainly sugarcane, with smaller amounts of coffee, cacao, and tobacco) was the economic mainstay until the late 20th century, when the economy became more diversified. The growing economy, in turn, helped to accelerate the rate of urbanization and increase the size of the middle class. The government has long played a major directing role in the economy, and in the 1990s controversy arose concerning its privatization of many formerly state-owned companies. The government also permitted numerous maquiladoras (foreign-owned factories) to be established in tax-free port zones. At the close of the decade, the nation had one of the highest economic growth rates in the world; however, the government’s privatization program remained contentious.
About three-fifths of Dominicans remain below the poverty level, despite improvements in the national economy, and the vast majority of the population belongs to the lower-income segment, including most farmers, landless agricultural workers, itinerant merchants, and unskilled manual labourers. However, the middle class has grown markedly since the mid-20th century, and the nation’s economic and social oligarchy has become somewhat fragmented as newly affluent families have joined its ranks.
Resources
Agricultural land was long the nation’s most important economic resource. About one-third of the land is under permanent cultivation. Pastures and meadows account for more than two-fifths of the total, whereas forests make up roughly one-eighth. Deposits of laterite nickel ore, bauxite (aluminum ore), gold, silver, gypsum, and iron ore have been developed commercially. Salt, largely from deposits near Lake Enriquillo, is also produced in commercial quantities. A smaller salt-producing enterprise, based on the evaporation of sea water, has also been of some importance at Monte Cristi. The Dominican Republic is one of the Western Hemisphere’s relatively few sources of high-quality amber; local artisans produce distinctive amber jewelry, but the gem has not yet been extensively exploited there. Other minerals of potential importance include sulfur, titanium, molybdenum, cobalt, tin, and zinc. The country has some reserves of coal, but it has no coal-mining or petroleum-extraction industries. Imported petroleum is used to generate nearly three-fourths of the country’s electric power; the remainder is produced by hydroelectric installations, particularly those near La Vega and Santo Domingo.
Agriculture, fisheries, and forestry
The Dominican Republic produces much of its own basic food, as well as a considerable amount for export, which is unlike the case in most other Caribbean nations. Agriculture accounts for about one-eighth of both the gross domestic product (GDP) and the workforce. Sugarcane remains the main cash crop; however, sugar prices fell during the 20th century, and coffee, cacao, and other export-oriented crops have become more prominent. Rice, tomatoes, vegetables, animal hides, bananas, other tropical fruits, root crops, and sorghum are also important. The tourist trade in the country has increased local demand for chickens, eggs, pork, beef, and dairy products, which Dominican farmers have produced in greater amounts.
Small, subsistence-level farmers barely eke out a living from the soil and often must supplement their incomes by selling handicrafts, including baskets, pottery, rocking chairs, and straw hats. These items either are sold to middlemen, who market them in towns, or are displayed and sold along the roads and highways.
The fish supply has been sufficient for local needs, and sport fishing has been an additional tourist attraction; however, because of the relative scarcity of marketable fish in nearby waters, a large-scale fishing industry has not developed. Forestry is of little consequence, although some lumbering is carried out in the pine forests of the Cordillera Central and other highlands.
Industry
Only a tiny proportion of the GDP and the labour force depend directly on the nation’s mines, which produce mainly ferronickel (smelted ore that is nearly 40 percent nickel), gold, silver, and bauxite. Manufacturing accounts for roughly one-sixth of the GDP and an equal share of the workforce. Petroleum refining has grown in importance, and locally made textiles and finished clothing—particularly shoes, shirts, and hats—have replaced some imports. Wooden, metal, and plastic furniture has become important on both domestic and foreign markets. Maquiladoras and other factories assemble products for export, mainly in duty-free-port zones. The food-processing and beverage industries produce rum, beer, and numerous other items. Small factories turn out consumer goods such as soap, candles, rope, cigars, concrete blocks, cement, and tiles. Read more
Source: Britannica