Dominican+Republic+(Yekzzit+Lopez)

__** Dominican Republic**__

**__Geography:__** The Dominican Republic is the second largest country in the Carribean. Its coastline stretches 1,633 km, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Carribean Sea. It also occupies the eastern 2\3 of the island of Hispaniola and it shares the with Haiti. The Dominican Republic has a diverse geography, it can range from arid semi-desert plains, to lush valleys, to tropical rain forests. This means that they have many types of temperatures, but the common climate is tropical and is moderated by ocean breezes. The temperature is generally between 75 and 85 degrees. The topography of the Dominican Republic is also very diverse because it consists of offshore islands, rivers and lakes, and highland and lowland areas. All the fertile valleys provide great vegetation for people to grow crops and sell to make a profit.

**__ Capital City __**: The Dominican Republic's capital city is Santo Domingo, it is the oldest city in the New World and in the Carribean. **__ Religion: __** The official religion is Roman Catholicism, but the number of alternate religions that people practice has grown because they are tolerant for many and all religions. ** __Exports\Industries__ **: The Dominican Republic mainly exports ferronickel, sugar, gold, silver, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, meats, and other consumer goods like tropical fruits. The major industries are ferronickel and gold mining, textiles, cement, tobacco, sugar processing, and tourism. __**Demographics:**__ __ Language: __
 * General Information: **

Spanish (official)

__Population__:

9,956,648 (__July 2011 est.)__ __Age Structure__: __Population Growth Rate:__ 1.331% (2011 est.) __Birth Rate:__ 19.67 births/1,000 population (2011 est.) __Death Rate__: 4.35 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.) __Life Expectancy at Birth:__ __Major Infectious Diseases:__ __Ethinic Groups__: mixed 73%, white 16%, black 11% __Literacy:__ __**Monetary System**__ : The official currency of the Dominican Republic is the Peso. $1 in the United States is 37.00 pesos in the Dominican Republic. To make it convenient for tourists, there are places where they can go to exchange the currency they have into the currency they except. Just know that they do not exchange all types of currencies, just some. The Dominican Republic's bank is calles the Central Bank or El Banco de Reservas.
 * 0-14 years:** 29.5% (male 1,493,251/female 1,441,735)
 * 15-64 years:** 64% (male 3,251,419/female 3,120,540)
 * 65 years and over:** 6.5% (male 300,245/female 349,458) (2011 est.)
 * total population:** 77.31 years
 * male:** 75.16 years
 * female:** 79.55 years (2011 est.)
 * degree of risk:** high
 * food or waterborne diseases:** bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
 * vectorborne diseases:** dengue fever and malaria
 * water contact disease:** leptospirosis (2009)
 * definition:** age 15 and over can read and write
 * total population:** 87%
 * male:** 86.8%
 * female:** 87.2% (2002 census)

__**Brief History:**__ The Dominican Republic was originally occupied by Tainos. They welcomed Columbus in his 1st voyage in 1492 with their peaceful and generous hospitality. The Tainos later were killed by some spanish settelers and the ones who survived were forced into hard labor panning for gold.

__**Government:**__ Type: Representative Democracy The government is set-up with three branches, which are legislative, executive, and judicial. The current leader (President) is Leonel Fernandez. Although the Dominican Republic has the second largest economy in the Caribbean and Central American region. There is high unemployment, government corruption, and inconsistent electric service remain major Dominican problems. The country also has "marked income inequality".

__**Culture:**__ __-Music__ : The Dominican Republic's population has a passion for music especially in bachata and merengue. __-Food__ : Traditional Dominican Republic food is very tasty and includes a diverse selection.

- __Sports__ : The favorited sport here is baseball, there are over 65 dominican baseball players in the U.S. Major baseball league. The Dominican Republic also offers many water related sports. __ - Holidays  __: Here the holidays and festivals are celebrated with vigor, music, and dancing. The most celebrated holiday is Christmas. **__ Tourism: __** __Cabarete__: Cabarete, located approximately 40 km east of Puerto Plata and 20 km east of the POP Airport, is a charismatic little beach town that attracts sports enthusiasts and sun worshippers from all over the world. __Playa Dorada:__ Playa Dorada is a gated resort community approximately 5 km east of Puerto Plata. The area has over a dozen separate resorts - each with their own restaurants, bars, swimming pools and activity options.The area boasts over 2 km of white sandy beach with watersports options. __Boca Chica:__ Boca Chica is located just a 15 minute's drive east of Santo Domingo's major airport, //Las Americas International Airport//. Boca Chica is best known for its beautiful white sand beach located in a small cove protected by a protruding reef surrounding the cove. These geographical features create what has been described as a great big swimming pool. The shallow depth of the cove and the outside reef keep the waters within the cove crystal clear and calm - especially safe for children.

__**Current Events:**__ __Earthquake hits Dominican Republic__ - The earthquake hit the DR almost exactly 2 years to the day after a massive quake devastated the neighboring nation of Haiti This quake was a 5.3 and was centered in the southern part of the country.

__At Least 16 Dead After Migrant Boat Sinks Near DR__ - 16 people died and 30 people went missing from a Puerto Rico boat. The migrants were traveling in a yola, while they were attempting to enter the United States.

__Resources:__ __Geography__ [|__http://www.hispaniola.com/dominican_republic/info/nature_georaphy.php__]

[|__http://geography.howstuffworks.com/caribbean/geography-of-the-dominican-republic.htm__] __General Info.__ __Capital City:__

[|__http://www.hispaniola.com/dominican_republic/info/nature_georaphy.php__] __Demographics__:

[|__http://www.indexmundi.com/dominican_republic/demographics_profile.html__] __Religion:__ [|__http://dominicanrepublic-guide.info/past.and.present/religion/__] __Exports/Industries__ [|__https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dr.html__] __Monetary System__ [|__http://www.thedominicanrepublic.net/money.html__] __History__ [|__http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35639.htm__][|__http://www.hispaniola.com/dominican_republic/info/history.php__] __Government__ [|__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic__] __Culture__ [|__http://www.welcome-dominican-republic.com/Dominican-Republic-Food.html__] __Tourism__ [|__http://www.hispaniola.com/dominican_republic/destinations/index.php__] __Current Events__ [|__http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/05/world/americas/dominican-republic-earthquake/index.html?iref=allsearch__][|__http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/05/world/americas/dominican-republic-boat-sinking/index.html?iref=allsearch__]