National Flag
Full country name: República Dominicana
Area: 18,815 sq mi (48,730 sq km)
Population (2003 est): 8,715,602
Capital: Santo Domingo.
People: white 16%, black 11%, mixed 73%.
Languages: Spanish.
Religion: Roman Catholic 95%..
Government: Representative democracy
President: Hipólito Mejía (2000)
GDP per head: US$5,800 (2001 est.)
Annual growth: 1.5% (2001 est.)
Inflation: 5% (2001 est.)
Major industries: tourism, sugar processing, ferronickel and gold mining,
textiles, cement, tobacco.
Major trading partners: U.S., Netherlands, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico,
Venezuela.
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 1934.
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 31 years later.
Leftists rebelled on April 24, 1965, and U.S. president Lyndon Johnson sent in marines and troops. After a cease-fire on May 6, a compromise installed Hector Garcia-Godoy as provisional president. Joaquin Balaguer won in free elections in 1966 against Bosch, and U.S. and other foreign troops withdrew. Balaguer restored political and economic stability.
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. Salvador Jorge Blanco of the Dominican Revolutionary Party was elected president on May 16, 1982, defeating 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 Fernandez 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. Fernandez was praised for ending decades of isolationism and improving ties with other Caribbean countries, but he was criticized for not fighting corruption and 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. In 2001 the army was deployed in major cities to fight rising crime.
A UNICEF report in 2002 claimed that about 2,500 Haitian children are smuggled
illegally into the Dominican Republic annually to work as manual laborers or
beggars.
The Dominican economy experienced dramatic growth over the last decade, even though the economy was hit hard by Hurricane Georges in 1998. Although the country has long been viewed primarily as an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco, in recent years the service sector has overtaken agriculture as the economy's largest employer, due to growth in tourism and free trade zones. The country suffers from marked income inequality; the poorest half of the population receives less than one-fifth of GNP, while the richest 10% enjoy 40% of national income. A US $500 million foreign bond issue in September 2001 will contribute to increased public investment spending.
The first permanent colony of Europeans in the western hemisphere was established in the Dominican Republic, and Western traditions have been a strong presence ever since. Some of the old colonial buildings are still standing, fine examples of which are in Santo Domingo. Art, music, and literature are developed in part on Western patterns. Almost equally strong is the African cultural strain. In the folk culture, especially the music, the African heritage is most noticeable. These two traditions blend in the popular national song and dance, the merengue. Most of the country’s major cultural institutions, including the National Fine Arts Gallery, are in Santo Domingo.
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