Country & People
The country ...
Hispaniola is after Cuba the second largest island of
the Caribbean. It hosts two countries, the Dominican
Republic and Haiti. The Dominican Republic covers two
third of the island.
The subtropical climate averaging a
tem-perature of 82°F (28°C) offers summer and sun all
year round. No wonder that tourism is the major economic
factor of the country. Mainly all-inclusive tourists
spent their holi-days in the Dominican Republic. In
recent years although, due to the efforts of the Ministry of
Tourism to support alternative and modern concepts of
tourism, more and more individual travelers discover the
country on their own.
The original inhabitants were the Taino
Indians, a peaceful tribe of whose culture only few
relicts are left. In 1492 Christopher Columbus
discovered the island. It is here where he founded the
first European settlement in the New World and from here
where he started the colonization of America. The
country’s capital Santo Domingo dazzles visitors with
plenty of colonial architecture: the oldest cathedral,
the oldest university and the oldest court in the New
World.
Other important dates of the country’s
history are: 1822 the occupation by Haiti,
