Dominican Republic Facts

The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean country of about 11.6 million people that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. At 48,670 square kilometers (18,790 square miles), it’s the second-largest country in the Caribbean, a region considered part of North America.

Its capital, Santo Domingo, sits on the south coast, and its currency is the Dominican peso (RD$). Pico Duarte, at more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet), is the highest mountain in the Caribbean, and the national bird, the palmchat, lives only on Hispaniola and a few nearby islands.

Dominican Culture and Traditions

Family and faith are at the center of daily life in the Dominican Republic. Extended families often live near one another, and most Dominicans are Christian. On January 21, a national holiday, many families travel to the Basilica Cathedral of Our Lady of La Altagracia, revered as the protector of the Dominican people, in the eastern town of Higüey.

Music and baseball are also a big part of everyday life. Merengue and bachata both started here, and UNESCO added them to its list of the world’s intangible cultural heritage in 2016 and 2019. Baseball is the most popular sport, and the country sends more players to Major League Baseball than any nation outside the United States.

February is the Carnival month, with parades every Sunday and the biggest celebrations on February 27, Independence Day.

What Language Is Spoken in the Dominican Republic?

Spanish is the official language of the Dominican Republic and the one nearly everyone speaks. Dominicans often drop the “s” at the end of words, so “los niños” (the children) can sound like “los niño.” Haitian Creole is also widely spoken, especially among Haitian immigrants and their descendants.

Hamaca (hammock), canoa (canoe) and huracán (hurricane) all come from Taíno, the language of the island’s first people.

Traditional Dominican Food

The best-known Dominican meal is la bandera (“the flag”): white rice, stewed beans and stewed meat, usually chicken, beef or pork. It’s the classic lunch, and lunch has traditionally been the main meal of the day. Family members often fight over concón, the crispy rice at the bottom of the pot.

Plantains are a staple too. Breakfast is often mangú con los tres golpes: mashed green plantains topped with onions and served with fried eggs, salami and fried cheese. For holidays and big gatherings, families make sancocho, a thick stew of several meats and root vegetables like yuca.

During Lent and Easter, Dominicans make habichuelas con dulce, a sweet dessert of beans, sweet potatoes, milk and spices.

A Brief History of the Dominican Republic

The Taíno people lived on the island long before Europeans arrived. They called the mountainous region Ayiti, meaning “land of high mountains,” and Dominicans still use the poetic name Quisqueya, a name given to the entire island. Christopher Columbus reached the island in December 1492 and named it Española, later Hispaniola.

In the 1490s, Columbus’ brother Bartholomew founded Santo Domingo, now the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the Americas, and its Ciudad Colonial, home to the first cathedral in the Americas, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Spain ruled the eastern side of the island for most of the next 300 years, while the west became Haiti. After 22 years of Haitian rule, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Ramón Matías Mella declared independence on February 27, 1844, carrying out a plan by Juan Pablo Duarte, who was in exile.

That night they raised the flag Duarte designed, so February 27 is both Independence Day and Flag Day. Its blue is often said to stand for liberty, red for the blood of the nation’s heroes and white for faith and salvation. Its coat of arms holds an open Bible turned to John 8:32, making it the only national flag with a Bible.

Spain returned at President Pedro Santana’s request in 1861, but Dominicans rose up on August 16, 1863 and won back their independence in 1865.