Gaining its independence as the Dominican Republic on the 27th of February in 1844 the Dominican Republic is a Spanish speaking country with more than ninety-five percent of Dominicans professing to be Roman Catholics. Practicing a typical democracy the Dominican Republic’s capital is Santo Domingo with Chief of State and Head of government being President Leonel Fernández Reyna.
Columbus explored Dominican Republic 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. In 1821 Spanish rule was overthrown, but in 1822 the Haitians re-conquered the colony. In 1844 the Haitians were thrown out, and the Dominican Republic was established, under the leadership of national hero Juan Pablo Duarte, but the government remained unstable. The nation was again ruled by the Spanish between 1861 and 1865. The United States occupied the Dominican Republic from 1916 to 1924. The thirty-year rule of Rafael Trujillo began in 1930. Trujillo was assassinated in 1961, and writer Juan Bosch came into power briefly before being overthrown by a military coup in 1963. The U.S. military intervened in 1965. Joaquin Balaguer was elected president, a position he held into the 1990s. The country has basically been governed democratically since the 1960s. The system of government used is Parliamentary. There are three major political parties in the Dominican Republic. They are: the Social Christian Reformist Party, the
Dominican Revolutionary Party, the Dominican Democratic Party, and the two minor parties: the Movimiento Popular Dominicano and the Movimiento de Intergracion
Democratica. The Dominican Republic in some ways is like the US. They have almost the same government, their president is voted on by the people and the president has a four year term. Only thing is we are a Democratic country and they are obviously a Republic.
Location
Located in the Caribbean Basin the Dominican Republic takes up two thirds of the island of Hispaniola in which it shares with Haiti. It is the second largest of the Greater Antilles. The Dominican Republic is shaped in the form of an irregular triangle, bordered by Haiti, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Mona Passage. Divided into the northern, central and the southwestern regions by mountains and valleys the Dominican Republic total area is approximately 48,442 square kilometers. Bordering the Atlantic Ocean the northern region, consists of the Atlantic coastal plain, the Cordillera Septentrional, the Valle del Cibao, and the Saman Peninsula. Running eastward from the Haitian border and ending in the Caribbean Sea the Cordillera Central dominates the central region which also contains the Caribbean coastal plain, which lies south of the foothills of the Sierra de Yamas. South of the Valle de San Juan the southwestern region encompasses the Sierra de Neiba. Running 296 kilometers from the Cordillera Centralto to the Bahнa de Manzanillo on the northwest coast is the Yaque Del Norte, the most significant river in the country. Covering an area of more than 3,000 square kilometers Lago Enriquillo is the largest lake in the Dominican Republic located in the southwestern part of the nation. Its drainage basin includes ten minor river systems.
Language
Spanish is the official and universally spoken language of the Dominican Republic. Compared with other Latin American countries, Dominican Spanish is considered close to classical (Castillian) Spanish, but has a distinctive accent and includes many local expressions. Some English is spoken in the capital city of Santo Domingo.
RELIGION
Roman Catholicism is the official religion of the Dominican Republic, serving faith to 93 percent of Dominicans. However, many Dominicans do not practice their faith like the orthodox church-goers would do. Religious customs among Catholics include rosarios, which are processions organized to pray for help from a patron saint or the Virgin Mary. Other aspects of religion of Dominicans involve memorizing the Catechism, rather than attending mass regularly. Many Dominicans approached their faith through religious models such as saints and clergy. Also, they approached their faith through curanderos and brujos, who came close to saints through herbs, roots, and different remedies to cure. They also cured through the power of driving out possessed spirits who may be contained in a person.
Evangelical Protestantism has become popular in recent years. Its emphasis on family values and condemnation of alcohol, prostitution, and wife-beating, has made this religion attractive to low-income Dominicans, who traditionally have had unstable family structures.
Followers of spirit worship and voodoo, which was introduced into the country by Haitian immigrants, are thought to number about 60,000.
Values
Dominicans have many morals and values but they have five core values along with their morals: compassion, inclusion, liberation, hope, and Jesus. They act as ministers who take the love of Christ and feed the hungry, heal the hurt, and do to the least what we did to him. AS people of inclusion they believe Jesus came to include all, not exclude. All are welcome. They are people of liberation because they seek to challenge all the oppressed and they embody grace by living out their liberation until all are set free of oppression. Dominicans are filled with hope, joy, and unrelenting optimism because they believe: God is good, with God all things are possible, and God uses us to transform the world. As Jesus' people they believe Jesus was the incarnation if God's grace. They believe Jesus was the ultimate liberal and showed us the way to lead the life God intends for all of us.
Education
Formal education includes primary, secondary, and higher education levels with a six-year primary cycle being necessary. Three years of preschool are offered in some areas but are not mandatory. There were several types of secondary schools but the majority, ninety percent, attends the six year liceo, which awards the bachillerato certificate upon completion and is geared toward university admission. Other secondary programs included teacher training schools, polytechnics, and vocational schools. All primary and secondary schools are under the formal jurisdiction of the Secretariat of State for Education and Culture and results in a total population literacy rate of almost eighty-five percent. In 1990 the estimated literacy rate (percent of the population who can read and write) was 83 percent. The law requires students to attend school for eight years, but many leave earlier to help support their families. Additional problems with education include a shortage of teachers, especially in rural areas, and a lack of adequate facilities. Institutions of higher learning include the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and four private universities.
Social welfare in the Dominican Republic is well established as ours is in the Unites States. Social security coverage includes old-age pensions, disability pensions, survivors and maternity benefits, and compensation for work injuries. General tax revenues supplement employer and employee contributions. Wage earners, government employees and domestic and agricultural workers are eligible, although the benefits that most domestic and farm workers received are limited. Most of those enrolled are in manufacturing, commerce, and construction.

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