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Dominican Republic
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National name: República
Dominicana
President: Leonel Fernández (2004)
Current government officials
Land area: 18,680 sq mi (48,381 sq km);
total area: 18,815 sq mi (48,730 sq km)
Population (2007 est.): 9,365,818
(growth rate: 1.5%); birth rate: 22.9/1000; infant mortality rate:
27.9/1000; life expectancy: 73.1; density per sq mi: 501
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Santo Domingo, 2,851,300 (metro. area),
2,252,400 (city proper)
Other large city: Santiago de los
Caballeros, 501,800
Monetary unit: Dominican Peso
Language:
Spanish
Ethnicity/race:
white 16%, black 11%, mixed 73%
Religion:
Roman Catholic 95%
Literacy rate: 85% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $85.4 billion; per capita $9,200. Real growth rate:
7.2%. Inflation: 5.8%. Unemployment: 15.5%. Arable
land: 23%. Agriculture: sugarcane, coffee, cotton, cocoa,
tobacco, rice, beans, potatoes, corn, bananas; cattle, pigs, dairy
products, beef, eggs. Labor force: 3.9 million (2007 est);
services and government 58.7%, industry 24.3%, agriculture 17% (1998
est.). Industries: tourism, sugar processing, ferronickel and
gold mining, textiles, cement, tobacco. Natural resources:
nickel, bauxite, gold, silver. Exports: $6.881 billion f.o.b.
(2007 est.): ferronickel, sugar, gold, silver, coffee, cocoa,
tobacco, meats, consumer goods. Imports: $12.89 billion
f.o.b. (2007 est.): foodstuffs, petroleum, cotton and fabrics,
chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Major trading partners: U.S.,
UK, Belgium, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico (2006).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 897,000 (2007); mobile cellular: 4.606 million (2006).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 120, FM 56, shortwave 4 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 25 (1997). Internet
hosts: 81,218 (2007). Internet users: 1.232 (2006).
Transportation: Railways: total: 517 km
(2006). Highways: total: 12,600 km; paved: 6,224 km; unpaved:
6,376 km (1999). Ports and harbors: Boca Chica, Puerto Plata,
Rio Haina, Santo Domingo. Airports: 34 (2007).
International disputes: increasing
numbers of illegal migrants from the Dominican Republic cross the
Mona Passage each year to Puerto Rico to find work.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
The Dominican Republic in the West Indies occupies the eastern
two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti. Its
area equals that of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Duarte Peak, at
10,417 ft (3,175 m), is the highest point in the West Indies.
Government
Representative democracy.
History
The Dominican Republic was explored by Columbus on his first voyage in
1492. He named it La Española, and his son, Diego, was its first viceroy.
The capital, Santo Domingo, founded in 1496, is the oldest European
settlement in the Western Hemisphere.
Spain ceded the colony to France in 1795, and Haitian blacks under
Toussaint L'Ouverture conquered it in 1801. In 1808 the people revolted
and captured Santo Domingo the next year, setting up the first republic.
Spain regained title to the colony in 1814. In 1821 Spanish rule was
overthrown, but in 1822 the colony was reconquered by the Haitians. In
1844 the Haitians were thrown out, and the Dominican Republic was
established, headed by Pedro Santana. Uprisings and Haitian attacks led
Santana to make the country a province of Spain from 1861 to 1865.
President Buenaventura Báez, faced with an economy in shambles,
attempted to have the country annexed to the U.S. in 1870, but the U.S.
Senate refused to ratify a treaty of annexation. Disorder continued until
the dictatorship of Ulíses Heureaux; in 1916, when chaos broke out again,
the U.S. sent in a contingent of marines, who remained until 1924.
A sergeant in the Dominican army trained by the marines, Rafaél
Leonides Trujillo Molina, overthrew Horacio Vásquez in 1930 and
established a dictatorship that lasted until his assassination in 1961, 31
years later. In 1962, Juan Bosch of the leftist Dominican Revolutionary
Party, became the first democratically elected president in four
decades.
In 1963, a military coup ousted Bosch and installed a civilian
triumvirate. Leftists rebelled against the new regime in April 1965, and
U.S. president Lyndon Johnson sent in marines and troops. After a
cease-fire in May, a compromise installed Hector Garcia-Godoy as
provisional president. In 1966, right-wing candidate Joaquin Balaguer won
in free elections against Bosch, and U.S. and other foreign troops
withdrew.
In 1978 the army suspended the counting of ballots when Balaguer
trailed in a fourth-term bid. After a warning from President Jimmy Carter,
however, Balaguer accepted the victory of Antonio Guzmán of the Dominican
Revolutionary Party. In 1982 elections, Salvador Jorge Blanco of the
Dominican Revolutionary Party defeated Balaguer and Bosch. Balaguer was
again elected president in May 1986 and remained in office for the next
ten years.
In 1996, U.S.-raised Leonel Fernández secured more than 51% of the vote
through an alliance with Balaguer. The first item on the president's
agenda was the partial sale of some state-owned enterprises. Fernández was
praised for ending decades of isolationism and improving ties with other
Caribbean countries, but he was criticized for not fighting corruption or
alleviating the poverty that affects 60% of the population.
In Aug. 2000 the center-left Hipólito Mejía was elected president amid
popular discontent over power outages in the recently privatized electric
industry, but in May 2004 presidential elections he was defeated by former
president Leonel Fernández (1996–2000). Fernández instituted austerity
measures to rescue the country from its economic crisis, and in the first
half of 2006, the economy grew 11.7%.
On May 16, 2008, incumbent president Leonel Fernández was reelected,
taking 53% of the vote. He defeated Miguel Vargas of the Dominican
Revolutionary Party, who won 41%.
See also Encyclopedia: Dominican Republic
U.S. State Dept. Country
Notes: Dominican Republic
National Statistics Office (In Spanish
Only) www.one.gov.do/ .
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