|RNational holiday:|N Independence Day, February 27.
|RNature and climate:|N Situated on the island of Hispaniola sharing it with Haiti. Three mountainchains cross the island in east - western direction with lush valleyis between them. In southeast a coastal plateau.
Great parts covered with rainforests.
The rain falls mainly on the north sides of the mountainchains 1000 to 2000 mm each year. In the valleyis and the south only about 500 mm each year.
Average temperature between 22°C and 28°C the whole year.
|RPeople:|N Mulattoes 73%. The rest mainly negroes and Europeans.
|REconomy:|N 35% of the population is occupied in agriculture and cattleraizing, 23% in manufacturing and 13% in serviceindustry.
Export of sugar, bananas and tobacco dominates. Other important crops are cacao and rice.
Dominican Republic is fairly rich on minerals. Ferro-nickel, bauxite, gold, silver, copper, chromium and cobalt are extracted.
Extensive sugarrefineries, as well as textile, cement and paper manufacturing, oilrefineries and chemical industry.
Tourism has grown substantially in the last decades.
|RHistory:|N The island of Hispaniola was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. His brother Bartolomeo in 1496 founded the town of Santo Domingo considered to be the oldest preserved European settlement in the New World.
Christopher Columbus' eldest son Diego, resided as viceking of the West Indies in the Columbus-palace in Santo Domingo for 15 years.
The whole island was a Spanish colony until 1697 when the western third was ceded to France and later became the republic of Haiti. The eastern part was formally a Spanish colony until 1844 when the Dominican Republic was founded. Before that several uprisings had been made and a free nation been proclaimed.
The political unstable situation continued when the independent nation had been proclaimed. Chaos followed dictatorships and so forth until the USA intervened in 1905, followed by a downright occupation in 1916. The US forces were withdrawn in 1924 when a constitutionally elected parliament and government was installed.
In 1930 R.L. Trujillo seized power and ruled as dictator, at times from in behind, till 1961 when he was murdered.
In the first free elections for 38 years Juan Bosch was elected president in 1962, but ousted in a military coup 1963.
Supporters of Bosch tried to reinstall him in a revolution in 1965, but were stopped by an US military action.
A new constitution was passed and Joaquin Balaquer elected president in 1966. He was reelected in 1970 and 1974 and succeeded by Antonio Guzman Fernandez in 1978.
Decreasing world market prices has led to severe economic problems. In 1992 unemployment reached 30%.
