Dominican Republic - a Nation on the Rise

A Nation On The Rise

The Dominican Republic has a number of different countries take control, over the time of its existence. The original occupants were Tainos, an Arawak-speaking tribe. The first European voyage to reach this country was lead by Columbus in 1492. His son Diego had his first victory here and called it La Española. The capital of san Domingo was founded in 1496, making this the first European settlement in the western hemisphere. This country through the last 500 years has been occupied by a few different countries such as Spain, France, Haiti, and the U.S. In 1697 Spain relinquished the western side of the island to France. The Haitians took over the country in 1822 to 1844 and named it the republic of Haiti. This is when Juan Pabloa hero among the Dominican independence lead a revolt and claimed the Dominican Republic. Internal disorder forced the U.S. occupation in 1916 to 1924 when order was restored; this is when the country became democratic. USAID is the biggest NGO in the Dominican Republic. The main goals of this organization is, increased use of HIV/AIDS prevention, increased use of selective effected child survival service, increased efficiency and equality of basic health care services at the local level, and sustainable effective reproductive health/family planning service by public and privately. UNHCR (the Untitled Nation) has its country office in San Domingo. Currently the UN is advising the government on RSD and refugee protection standards. The Democratic Republic used to suffer under the kleptocracy regimes of Rafael Trujillo. This was some of the bloodiest times of this country. Land grabbing is happening all over the world and the democratic Republic is one of its victims. In this case it's not happing from within the county, but foreign forces are coming and taking land as fast as they can.

The Dominican Republic shares the island with Haiti, which controls 1/3 of the island. The country is roughly 18000 spare miles. It has over 1000 miles of beach, with almost year round tropical weather. The average temperature is around 80 degrees. They also have 4 mountain ranges, at 10,700 feet Pico Duarte is there highest peak. Snow does hit some of these peaks, but only a few months out of the year. Santo Domingo, the capital city, is also the country's most popular seaport because of its central location. Also almost half of the country's 8 million occupants live in this city, with another million living to the north in Santiago. The country has a few natural resources nickel, bauxite, gold, silver. Over the past few years the Dominican Republic has been becoming more environmentally conscious. A few years ago Santo Domingo was on the 10 most polluted cities. This is what woke them up and they started to clean up their act, but babies born is the high lead zones still have learning disabilities, physical growth, and kidney failures.