Hispaniola’s east holds the Caribbean’s tallest peak and biggest lake
The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern five-eighths of Hispaniola, sharing the island with Haiti and a sea border toward Puerto Rico. Taíno chiefdoms met Columbus in 1492; Santo Domingo became the New World’s first permanent European city and university seat under the Dominican Order.
Hispaniola and Saint Martin are the only Caribbean islands divided between two sovereign states. At 48,671 square kilometres the Dominican Republic is second only to Cuba in the Antilles, and with about 11.4 million people in 2024 it trails only Haiti; some 3.6 million live in greater Santo Domingo. The Taíno had split the island into five chiefdoms before Columbus claimed it for Castile in 1492.
Spain accepted French rule over the western third in 1697, and that part became independent Haiti in 1804. Dominicans ousted the Spanish governor late in 1821, only for Haiti to absorb them within three months; lasting independence came in 1844. Seven decades of civil wars, dictatorships, failed Haitian invasions and a brief return to Spanish rule followed. The colony was long simply Santo Domingo, and its people Dominicanos, so the new state became the Dominican Republic. The anthem prefers Quisqueyanos, from a Ciguayo word meaning mother of the lands.
Its economy is the biggest in the Caribbean and seventh in Latin America. Real growth averaged 5.3 percent from 1992 to 2018, the fastest in the Western Hemisphere, and hit 7.3 and 7.0 percent in 2014 and 2015. Construction, manufacturing, tourism and mining drive it; Pueblo Viejo is the world's third-largest gold mine by output, and national production reached 31 tonnes in 2015.
No Caribbean destination gets more visitors. The country holds Pico Duarte, the region's highest peak, and Lake Enriquillo, its largest lake and lowest point, with an average temperature of 26 °C. Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone, a World Heritage Site, has the first cathedral, palace, monastery and fortress in the Americas.
Source: Dominican Republic
