Dominican Republic

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Dominican Republic
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History

• In the 15th century the island was first occupied
  by the Taino people. These people created five
  kingdoms to which they hunted small game, went
  fishing, and cultivated different crops such as,
  cassava, corn, squash, beans, sweet potatoes,
  peppers, peanuts, and yams.
• Colonizers later came to the island in 1495 and
  abused the Taino people. It is estimated that
  the population reduced from 60,000 in 1507 to 600
  in 1531.
• Santo Domingo's importance for the Spanish Crown
  diminished in the early 16th century due to the
  discovery of gold and silver in Mexico and Peru,
  and the Caribbean colony's population dwindled.
  The economy remained basically stagnant for the
  next 250 years, approximately.

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History

• In the mid-1600s, French buccaneers settled in
  the western end of the island, and soon France
  moved to colonize the area. Spain ceded the
  territory to France in 1697, after three decades
  of intermittent warfare. The French colony of
  Saint-Domingue soon became the most productive
  agricultural economy in the Western Hemisphere.
• Trade restrictions were gradually restricted in
  the 18th century leading to an increase in the
  population from approximately 6,000 in 1737 to
  around 125,000 in 1790.
• In 1804, after a long, brutal revolution led by
  the former black slave Toussaint L'Ouverture and
  later by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the colony of
  Saint-Domingue became the Republic of Haiti.
• In 1844, forces led by Juan Pablo Duarte, the
  hero of Dominican independence, drove the
  Haitians out and established the Dominican
  Republic as an independent state.

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Government Functions

• The Dominican Republic is a representative
  democracy with government authority divided among
  independent executive, legislative and judicial
  branches.
• The presidency system in the Dominican Republic
  is very much the same as The United States. A
  president is elected and given only a few duties
  and they can only hold office for four years at a
  time. The only differences are that the
  president of the Dominican Republic can not be
  re-elected and in an election they must win by 50
  percent plus one vote.
• The Dominican Republic has a multi-party
  political system with national elections every
  four years. Voter turnout is generally very high,
  as exemplified by the fact that in the two rounds
  of presidential elections in 1996, nearly 80
  percent of eligible Dominicans went to the polls.

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Foreign Relations

• The Dominican Republic belongs to the United
  Nations and many of its specialized and related
  agencies, including the World Bank, the
  International Labor Organization, the
  International Atomic Energy Agency, and the
  International Civil Aviation Organization.
• The Dominican Republic has a close relationship
  with the United States and with the other states
  of the Inter-American system. It has accredited
  diplomatic missions in most Western Hemisphere
  countries and in principal European capitals. The
  Dominican Republic and Cuba recently established
  consular relations, and there is contact in
  fields such as commerce, culture and sports.
  Dominican relations with its closest neighbor,
  the Republic of Haiti, have never been extensive.
  The expulsion of 20,000 illegal Haitian
  immigrants in early 1997 resulted in tension
  between the two countries. The tension was
  relieved with an agreement that international
  observers would monitor the process.

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Environmental Overview

• Key current environmental issues in the Dominican
  Republic include the following
  
• Water Shortages
• soil erosion, as a result of slash and burn
  agricultural practices
  
• deforestation, as a result of timber exploitation
  for energy resources (fuel)
  
• damage to coral reefs and mangroves, as a result
  of human activities

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People

• About half of Dominicans live in rural areas, and
  many of them are small landholders. However,
  rural citizens have migrated in large numbers to
  major cities such as Santo Domingo and Santiago
  de los Caballeros in the past decades urban
  areas continue to grow rapidly.
• Most of the population of the Dominican Republic
  is of mixed African and European ancestry. There
  are significant distinct populations of people of
  African and European extraction, as well.
  Haitians form the largest foreign minority
  group.
• The state religion of the Dominican Republic is
  Roman Catholicism, but there is no religious
  restriction.
  
• The official language is Spanish.

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Quality of Life

• The Dominican Republic's infant mortality rate is
  34.19 deaths per 1,000 births, according to
  a recent estimate. The life expectancy at birth
  for the total population was estimated in the
  last year to be 67.96 years - 66.41 years for
  males and 69.58 years for females. The literacy
  rate of citizens over the age of 15 was estimated
  in the last year to be 84.7 percent,
  disaggregated to 84.6 percent of males and 84.8
  percent of females.

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Tips when traveling..

• When traveling to the Dominican Republic there
  are a few facts to know to avoid getting sick
  
• Don't eat food purchased from street vendors.
  Don't drink beverages with ice. Don't
  handle animals (especially monkeys, dogs, and
  cats), to avoid bites and serious diseases
  (including rabies and plague).
• Don't swim in fresh water. Salt water is
  usually safer.

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To Stay Healthy, Do

• Drink only bottled or boiled water, or
  carbonated (bubbly) drinks in cans or bottles.
  Avoid tap water, fountain drinks, and ice cubes.
  If this is not possible, make water safer by BOTH
  filtering through an "absolute 1-micron or less"
  filter AND adding iodine tablets to the filtered
  water. "Absolute 1-micron filters" are found in
  camping/outdoor supply stores.
• If you visit an area where there is risk for
  malaria, take your malaria prevention medication
  before, during, and after travel, as directed.
  (See your doctor for a prescription.)
• Protect yourself from insects by remaining in
  well-screened areas, using repellents (applied
  sparingly at 4-hour intervals) and
  permethrin-impregnated mosquito nets, and wearing
  long-sleeved shirts and long pants from dusk
  through dawn.
• To prevent fungal and parasitic infections,
  keep feet clean and dry, and do not go barefoot.