Dominican Republic

n. country in the West Indies (located on the island of Hispanola)

The Dominican Republic (Spanish: República Dominicana, IPA ) is a Latin American country that occupies the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island called Hispaniola. It shares a border with the Republic of Haiti, making it one of two Caribbean islands that are split by two countries; the other is Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten. Hispaniola is the second-largest of the Greater Antilles islands, and lies west of Puerto Rico and east of Cuba and Jamaica.
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Noun
1. a republic in the West Indies; located on the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola
(hypernym) country, state, land
(member-holonym) Organization of American States, OAS
(part-holonym) Hispaniola, Haiti, Hayti
(part-meronym) Santo Domingo, Ciudad Trujillo, capital of the Dominican Republic

Flag of Dominican Republic
Background Explored and claimed by Columbus on his first voyage in 1492, the island of Hispaniola became a springboard for Spanish conquest of the Caribbean and the American mainland. In 1697, Spain recognized French dominion over the western third of the island, which in 1804 became Haiti. The remainder of the island, by then known as Santo Domingo, sought to gain its own independence in 1821, but was conquered and ruled by the Haitians for 22 years; it finally attained independence as the Dominican Republic in 1844. In 1861, the Dominicans voluntarily returned to the Spanish Empire, but two years later they launched a war that restored independence in 1865. A legacy of unsettled, mostly non-representative, rule for much of its subsequent history was brought to an end in 1966 when Joaquin BALAGUER became president. He maintained a tight grip on power for most of the next 30 years when international reaction to flawed elections forced him to curtail his term in 1996. Since then, regular competitive elections have been held in which opposition candidates have won the presidency. The Dominican economy has had one of the fastest growth rates in the hemisphere over the past decade. Map of Dominican Republic More about Dominican Republic: People Geography Government Economy Communications Transportation Military Transnational Issues

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