POPULATION

Dominican Republic counts with approximately 9 million inhabitants.

GEOGRAPHY

With 48.198 km² (29.948 square miles) Dominican Republic is the second largest country in the Caribbean and it occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles, with Haiti occupying the western portion. Situated in the heart of the region between North and South America, the country is bathed by the Caribbean Sea on the south coast and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and its contrasting landscape offers towering mountains, cacti-studded deserts, rainforest and more than 400 kilometers of soft sandy beaches.

CLIMATE AND WEATHER

Dominican Republic is a tropical and maritime nation. The main annual temperature ranges from 17^oC (62F) to 33^oC (92F). Along the coast, like in the capital city Santo Domingo, the temperature ranges from 25^oC (77F) to 30^oC (86F) all year round. Although known as a tropical island, temperatures in some mountainous regions can fall down to the freezing mark in the winter months.

BRIEF HISTORY

When Christopher Columbus arrived the island in 1492 he named it Hispaniola. At that time it was inhabited by some 400.000 Taino Indians. Old World diseases, slavery and cruel treatment by the Spaniards erased this population. To replace the manual labor, the first African slaves were brought to the island in 1520. The country gained its first independence from Spain in 1821, but the following year the Haitians invaded inspired by the ideal of one indivisible island set by their liberator Toussaint L'Ouverture. The Dominican Republic remained under Haitian control until 27 of February 1844 when the founding fathers of Dominican independence Juan Pablo Duarte, Ramon Matias Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sanchez led a successful revolt and declared independence.