Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti. The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern part of the island, while Haiti lies to the west. Their border crosses mountains and valleys rather than following a natural break in the landscape.

A mountain range called the Cordillera Central runs through the middle of the country. Its highest point, Pico Duarte, rises more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet), making it the tallest mountain on any Caribbean island. The high elevations are cool enough for pine forests—and temperatures near the summit can even drop low enough for frost!

Rain falling high in the Cordillera Central helps make the broad Cibao Valley one of the country's richest farming regions. Rivers such as the Yaque del Norte carry water down into the valley, where farmers grow rice, plantains, cacao, tobacco, and other crops.

Mountains block some rain from reaching the southwest, creating one of the country's driest regions. There, Lake Enriquillo sits below sea level in a hot basin with no river flowing out of it. As water evaporates, salt is left behind, making the lake saltier than the ocean—and American crocodiles live along its shores and in its waters.

For centuries before Spanish colonization, Taíno communities farmed cassava, fished, traded between islands, traveled by canoe, and built villages across Hispaniola. Their communities were connected through trade, family relationships, and local leaders. Taíno influence still survives in Dominican foods and place names, as well as words such as hamaca (hammock) and huracán (hurricane).

When Columbus arrived in 1492, Hispaniola was home to established Taíno communities. Spain seized land, forced Taíno people to labor, and established Santo Domingo as the center of Spanish rule in the Caribbean. Violence and diseases brought from Europe devastated Taíno communities as Spain expanded its control.

After Spain established a colony on Taíno lands, Spaniards began forcing enslaved Africans across the Atlantic in the early 1500s, especially to work in sugar production. Africans and their descendants became a major part of the population and helped shape the culture developing in what is now the Dominican Republic. African traditions became especially important in Dominican music and dance, religious practices, food, and other parts of everyday life.

Two music and dance traditions born in the Dominican Republic—merengue and bachata—are now danced around the world. Merengue became closely tied to Dominican celebrations and national life, while bachata grew from guitar music played at everyday social gatherings and in working-class neighborhoods. Once looked down on by many Dominican elites, bachata eventually became a source of national pride and an international music phenomenon.

One of the largest Dominican communities outside the Dominican Republic is in New York City. Dominican migration to the United States grew sharply after the fall of Rafael Trujillo's brutal dictatorship in 1961, as political upheaval and economic problems pushed many people to leave. As Dominican communities grew, relatives followed, and strong connections with the island continued through family, travel, food, music, and businesses.

Punta Cana, on the Dominican Republic's eastern coast, had beautiful beaches but little tourism development until the 1970s. Resorts began to grow, and an international airport made it easy for travelers to fly directly there. Punta Cana soon became one of the Caribbean's busiest resort destinations and a major source of tourism income for the country.

Many Dominicans who live abroad send money home to relatives; these payments are called remittances. Families use the money for food, housing, education, healthcare, and other needs. Together, these payments amount to roughly a tenth of the country's economy.

Some chocolate eaten around the world begins on farms in the Dominican Republic. Cacao trees grow well in the country's warm, rainy regions, where farmers harvest the pods, remove the seeds, then ferment and dry them. Those dried cacao beans are shipped away to be turned into chocolate that may eventually be eaten thousands of kilometers from the farm where they grew.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the island of Hispaniola, but the two sides developed under different colonial powers: Spain controlled the east, while France controlled the west. Haiti won its independence from France in 1804 and later governed the entire island from 1822 until 1844, when leaders in the east founded the independent Dominican Republic. The border remained politically charged; under dictator Rafael Trujillo, anti-Haitian persecution culminated in the 1937 killing of thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent near the border.