Dominican Republic

Country occupying the eastern half of Hispaniola. Its capital is Santo Domingo.

A Spanish speaking country bordering next to Haiti. The Dominican Republic, La Republica Dominicana, was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus in 1492. The natives already living there then mixed in with the African American slaves, and European people who came from countries like: Italy, Portugal, Spain etc. And Arabs also migrated to the Dominican Republic. Unlike the stereotype that claims that the Dominican Republic is full of dark colored people, with coarse hair, the Dominican Republic is filled with variety in its people and appearance due to its rich past. Yes, there are blonds, brunettes, and red haired(I swear there are) people that are Dominican. I, myself am a white colored Dominican, some say whiter than some Irish people. Some people from the Dominican Republic have African ancestry, Portuguese, or Spaniard, like me. The Dominican Republic gained its independence in 1844.

Baseball is to the Dominican Republic like what public transportation is to New York City. Yeah, I know. Dominican Republic lives, eat and breathes baseball whether you like it or not. Famous Dominican baseball players out there right now are: Albert Pujols, Miguel Tejada, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Pedro Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, and Alex Rodriguez.

Bachata and merengue originated in the Dominican Republic. Bachata and merengue now is pretty popular through out the Spanish community.

The Dominican Republic, like any other Caribbean country/island is beautiful, and has the most gorgeous beaches and places. But like every other country, it has its poor and poverty-stricken cities and rural towns.

Dominican Republic also was home to a brutal dictator: Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina. Trujillo reigned 1930-1938, and yet again in the years 1942-1952. He massacred 20,000 Haitians. Haitian immigrants were also murdered if they could not pronounce the Spanish r in "perejil" (parsley). He also murdered the Mirabel sisters(who were political activists against Trujillo’s regime), having them beaten and strangled to death. He was similar to all the other infamous dictators of the world. He re-named the capital of the Dominican Republic after himself, and compared himself with Jesus Christ. He put monuments and statues of himself all over the country. But it got to the point that Fidel Castro, when he got into power, trained some rebel Dominican troops to invade but they were killed. Venezuela’s president at the time(who Trujillo tried to assassinate) also wanted the infamous dictator killed, so much that he delivered an ultimatum to the US/CIA. If the US wasn’t going to do anything, Venezuela was going to invade(the US didn’t want to do anything at first because Trujillo was favored and his torture/mass-murdering policy was ignored because he was anti-communism). Finally, the CIA supplied the rebels with weapons, and those rebels killed Trujillo in a deserted highway.

Dominican Republic is home to the beautiful Punta Cana, La Romana, and Puerto Plata.

Some famous Dominican people are(excluding baseball players): Amelia Vega, 2003 Miss Universe winner; Oscar de la Renta, famous fashion designer; Juan Luis Guerra, famous music artist.

Some famous half Dominicans: Michelle Rodriguez, actress in Fast and the Furious; Fabolous, rapper; Juelz Santana, rapper.

Dominican republic has a lively and rich culture, a country which has suffered its hardships and violence, buts it’s a beautiful country and I encourage you all to visit.

The most amazing place in the world. Somewhat poverty stricken.
Is home to some of the nicest people you will ever meet (Marcos Deivi Jen Goodie Sunshine Adams etc)

If you go there it will change your life.

You can drive down the street and hear children laughing playing and yelling in excitement Americanos!!!

The place that stole my heart.

A country where rich American teenagers go to get drunk off their asses.

Dominican Republic is a half-island country located in the Caribbean.

We have one of the worst education systems in Latin America; the government refuses to invest the (by-law) minimum of 4% of the budget in education.

We have a large illegal immigrant population of Haitians who cross the border seeking to re-establish themselves on this side of the island.

Underage drinking is a custom here; allowing minors to go into clubs is an everyday sighting.

Culturally rich, the Dominican Republic was the first colony in America to have a university (Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, founded 1538 if I'm not mistaken), the first cathedral, and being the birth place to the music genres of Merengue and Bachata. Other musical styles that have great popularity here are Rap and "Dembow".

Unfortunately, this country is controlled by the 5-10% of the population that in election time "buys" votes of the uneducated and gullible by bribing them with food and false promises. This keeps the country chained to a vicious circle from which it seems it cannot unbind itself.

The Dominican Republic is a poor country, ravaged by drugs and corruption, and from the looks of it, this might be the case for a while.

We got nice beaches, plantain, mangu, sancocho, red soda, a very colourful vocabulary, (mostly) kind and helpful, but retarded people, and one of the most beautiful national anthems.

To clear a couple of things off (& I quote)): "The first Caribbean country to gain its independence was Haiti in 1804, and it was followed by the Dominican Republic in 1844 and Cuba in 1902."

- situated on the Caribbean Ocean, sharing an island with Haiti. - Drinking, smoking and stonin allowed since age 10. - No death sentence in jail and longest jail sentences are 30 years, which are often shortened to 5 - 10 years.- full of crooks and corrupt politicians.- 90% of population lives in extreme poverty and 10% live better than most of the richest people in the United States.- Either u see really fuked up cars or super expensive cars, no regular cars in this country.. no middle class cars.- Terrorists are afraid to come here, no Bin Landen here!- Extremely large population of PERVY freaks!!!!!!! that whistle when hot women pass by.- Young girls are raped when they leave their houses.- Partys include superb amounts of alcohol and sex, especially the Sweet Sixteens.- Policeman are thieves, and thieves are thieves.- We have no TAXIS just beat up cars that can barely run called "carros publicos" if u use one the chances are ull get mugged, and if ure really poor ull just get rapped.- if u're considerin comin to a public school u'll learn more by watchin tv.- if u're fortunate enough u can have electricty for 6 hours, because it goes off for 17 hours each day because the government is poor! - although the government is poor the president is one of the riches ppl in the Caribbean and has bank accounts in Switzerland & USA.- we used to have pretty beaches, but they're full of trash, cans, sewars, and dead ppl.- La Bolita is one of the most places in the DOMREP and i love it.- the militia is totally unnecessary, there are more generals than the USA who are benefittin from the bad management of the economy.- 85 % of the population is from African descent, and there is 15% that think that everyone on the island is white like them.- 80% of the ppl are iliterate, 10 % is retarded, and the other 10% who fukin cares.- only 15% of the ppl have flown in a plane.- people rarely take baths...in a shower. this is because there is no water or electricity and everyone goes to the rivers.. which are dirty.