You've been in the D.R. too long...
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Welcome to my web site! Enjoy the interesting facts about the Dominican Republic including some photos of the island and a little knowledge I've gained after living there for over two years.
FAST FACTS
This site is dedicated to learning about the second largest island in the Caribbean Sea, the Dominican Republic. Many people forget that it was here that Christopher Columbus first landed in the Americas and discovered the new world. Since then the entire island (shared with Haiti) is known as Hispanola. As a result the D.R. has the oldest university and European city in the Western hemisphere.
Ethnic Groups: European 16%, African 11%, mixed 73%.
Religion: Roman Catholic 95% (by birth).
Population: 8,108,000
Literacy rate: 83%
Official Language: Spanish
BRIEF HISTORY OF DOMINICAN PEOPLE
Dominicans have a rich cultural background of customs brought over from Spain, Africa, and their original native people. The Spanish explorers first settled after Columbus and brought Catholicism an the Spanish language. The African influence was brought over mainly due to the neighboring country of Haiti and the early slave markets. The Indian people have passed down many cultural rites but the first Indian people were wiped out by the early colonists. Now in modern times the Dominican people dress much in the same way as people of the U.S. and consider themselves Americans. Much influence comes from the U.S. owing to the fact that many have relatives living in the U.S. Did you know the largest immigrant people of New York are Dominicans and over 19% of Major League Baseball players come from the D.R.?
This page was last updated on 9/18/03.
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