Dominican Republic
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Dominican Republic is a country in the Caribbean. It shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Its capital, and largest city, is Santo Domingo. The language is Spanish; the money is the peso. The main industries are cocoa, coffee and tourism, and these have grown much in the last few years.
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[edit] Other names for the Dominican Republic
- Quisqueya
- La tierra del merengue ("The land of merengue")
- La capital del baseball ("The capital of baseball")
- La reina del Caribe ("The queen of the Caribbean")
[edit] History
The Dominican Republic was the first country to be discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Before Columbus came the country was divided into 5 cacigazgos, which were ruled by caciques.
Juan Pablo Duarte is considered as the main patriot and the main father of the country. He was the one who planned the independence of the Dominican Republic from Haiti, which happened in February 27th, 1844.
The Dominican Republic was invaded by the United States from 1916 to 1924. Later, the United States helped Rafael Trujillo get to power through a coup d'Etat in 1930. Trujillo became a dictator, killing a lot of people in this nation. In 1961, some Dominicans put an end to Trujillo's life.
In the first free elections of the Dominican Republic after the death of Trujillo, Juan Bosch was elected president in 1962, but since his ideas were a little similar with the ideas of Communism, the United States made the Dominicans believe that he was a Communist. This caused some soldiers to throw Bosch out of power.
In April 1965, a civil war starts in the Dominican Republic, between a group called Constitucionalistas, who wanted Bosch to return to power because he had been elected constitutionally, and the Anticonstitucionalistas. The United States invaded the country once again in that year, saying they did it to protect the American citizens in the Dominican Republic, but later it was clear that they came so that the Constitucionalistas could not win, because the Americans didn't want Bosch as the president of the country.
The war ended, and over the years, the following have been the presidents of the Dominican Republic after the civil war:
- Joaquín Balaguer (1966-1978)
- Antonio Guzmán (1978-1982)
- Salvador Jorge Blanco (1982-1986)
- Joaquín Balaguer (1986-1996)
- Leonel Fernández (1996-2000)
- Hipólito Mejía (2000-2004)
- Leonel Fernández (2004-2008)
[edit] Politics
[edit] Economy
The Dominican Republic relies on agriculture, tourism, trade and service as the principal economical activities.
[edit] Geography
[edit] Culture
[edit] Religion
The official religion in the Dominican Republic is the Roman Catholic, but since there is freedom of religion, the Dominicans are free to have other religions and believe in other things as well. The Catholics are the majority in the nation, and after them, the Protestants, following other minor religions.
| Countries and territories of North America | |
|---|---|
| Independent | Antigua and Barbuda | Bahamas | Barbados | Belize | Canada | Costa Rica | Cuba | Dominica | Dominican Republic | El Salvador | Grenada | Guatemala | Haiti | Honduras | Jamaica | Mexico | Nicaragua | Panama | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Trinidad and Tobago | United States |
| Governed by other countries | Anguilla | Aruba | Bermuda | British Virgin Islands | Cayman Islands | Greenland | Guadeloupe | Martinique | Montserrat | Navassa Island | Netherlands Antilles | Puerto Rico | Saint-Pierre and Miquelon | Turks and Caicos Islands | U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Countries and territories in the Caribbean (West Indies) |
|---|
| Antigua and Barbuda | Bahamas | Barbados | Cuba | Dominica | Dominican Republic | Grenada | Haiti | Jamaica | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Governed by other countries: Anguilla | Aruba | British Virgin Islands | Cayman Islands | Guadeloupe | Martinique | Montserrat | Navassa Island | Netherlands Antilles | Puerto Rico | Turks and Caicos Islands | U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Caribbean Community (CARICOM) |
|---|
| Antigua and Barbuda | Bahamas¹ | Barbados | Belize | Dominica | Grenada | Guyana | Haiti | Jamaica | Montserrat | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Suriname | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Associate members: Anguilla | Bermuda | Cayman Islands | British Virgin Islands | Turks and Caicos Islands |
| Observer countries: Aruba | Colombia | Dominican Republic | Mexico | Netherlands Antilles | Puerto Rico | Venezuela |
| ¹ Member of the community but not the Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy. |
