The Dominican Republic is a North American country on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with Haiti, making Hispaniola one of only two Caribbean islands, along with Saint Martin, that is shared by two sovereign states. It is the second-largest nation in the Antilles by area at 48,671 square kilometers (18,792 sq mi), and second-largest by population, with approximately 11.4 million people in 2024, of whom approximately 3.6 million live in the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, the capital city.
The recorded history of the Dominican Republic began in 1492 when the Genoa-born navigator Christopher Columbus, working for the Crown of Castile, happened upon a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. It was inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawakan people, who called the eastern part of the island Quisqueya (Kiskeya), meaning "mother of all lands." Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, naming it La Isla Española, later Latinized to Hispaniola. After 25 years of Spanish occupation, the Taíno population in the Spanish-dominated parts of the island drastically decreased through genocide. With fewer than 50,000 remaining, the survivors intermixed with Spaniards, Africans, and others, forming the present-day tripartite Dominican population. What would become the Dominican Republic was the Spanish Captaincy General of Santo Domingo until 1821, except for a time as a French colony from 1795 to 1809. It was then part of a unified Hispaniola with Haiti from 1822 until 1844. In 1844, Dominican independence was proclaimed and the republic, which was often known as Santo Domingo until the early 20th century, maintained its independence except for a short Spanish occupation from 1861 to 1865 and occupation by the United States from 1916 to 1924.
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, nicknamed El Jefe, was a Dominican military commander and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He served as president from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952, ruling for the rest of his life as an unelected military strongman under figurehead presidents. His rule of 31 years, known to Dominicans as the Trujillo Era, was one of the longest for a non-royal leader in the world, and centered around a personality cult of the ruling family. It was also one of the most brutal; Trujillo's security forces, including the infamous SIM, were responsible for perhaps as many as 50,000 murders. These included between 12,000 and 30,000 Haitians in the infamous Parsley massacre in 1937, which continues to affect Dominican-Haitian relations to this day.
Juan Emilio Bosch y Gaviño was a Dominican politician, historian, writer, essayist, educator, and the first democratically elected president of the Dominican Republic for a brief time in 1963. Previously, he had been the leader of the Dominican opposition in exile to the dictatorial regime of Rafael Trujillo for over 25 years. To this day, he is remembered as an honest politician and regarded as one of the most prominent writers in Dominican literature. He founded both the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) in 1939 and the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in 1973.
Col. Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó was a Dominican soldier and politician who took the constitutional presidency of the Dominican Republic during the Civil War of 1965. During the war, which began on April 24, 1965, Caamaño was one of the leaders in the movement to restore the democratically elected President Dr. Juan Bosch, who had been overthrown in a military coup d'état in September 1963.
Listín Diario is one of the leading newspapers in the Dominican Republic, and the oldest still being published.
Luis María Frómeta Pereyra most known as Billo Frómeta was a Dominican orchestra conductor, arranger and composer. Billo's compositions achieve international fame, and those dedicated to Caracas, where he married several times and raised a family, made him the most beloved of composers. He always included Dominican Merengue and mangulinas in his recordings.
Orlando Martínez Howley was a left-wing journalist and member of the Communist Party of the Dominican Republic who was a critic of President Joaquín Balaguer. He was ordered to be killed by the then president in 1975, and in 2000, four men were given 30-year jail sentences in connection with the killing. Orlando Martínez has become a symbol of freedom of expression in the Dominican Republic.
The Vicini family is the wealthiest family in the Dominican Republic and is best known for their vast holdings in the sugar industry. The family business was started by Juan Bautista Vicini Canepa, who migrated to the Dominican Republic from Italy in 1860.
Manuel de Jesús María Ulpiano Troncoso de la Concha was an intellectual and President of the Dominican Republic from 1940 until 1942. Prior to ascending to the presidency, he was vice-president from 1938 to 1940. His term began upon the death of President Jacinto Peynado. He also served in 1911 during the reign of the Council of Secretaries.
Francisco Hilario Henríquez y Carvajal was a medical doctor, lawyer, writer, educator and politician from the Dominican Republic, who served as president just prior to the US occupation of the country.
Celeste Agustina Woss y Gil was a Dominican painter, educator, and feminist activist, remembered as one of the most influential Dominican artists from the 20th century. Born in Santo Domingo and daughter to former president Alejandro Woss y Gil, she was 12 years old when her family left the country in exile after her father's second presidential term ended in 1903. She spent the rest of her early years living and studying art in Paris, Cuba, and New York City.
Juan Isidro Jimenes Grullón was a Dominican essayist, historian, physician, philosopher, educator and politician.
The Haitian minority of the Dominican Republic is the largest ethnic minority in the Dominican Republic since the early 20th century.
Andrés Luciano Mateo Martínez is a Dominican writer, novelist, poet, philologist, educator, literary critic, essayist, researcher and philosopher. He was the winner of the National Literature Prize in 2004.
Abelardo Vicioso was a Dominican intellectual, politician, lawyer, and poet.
Juan Bautista 'Gianni' Vicini Cabral was an Italian-born Dominican businessman and chairman of the sugar company Grupo Vicini, the largest Dominican Republic corporation.
Rafael Ángel Brache Ramírez was a politician, civil servant, and diplomat from the Dominican Republic. His career in national politics spanned from 1914 to 1935, after which he spent much of his life in exile.
Dominican Republic–Spain relations are the bilateral relations between the Dominican Republic and Spain. Both nations are members of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language and the Organization of Ibero-American States.
Cuba–Dominican Republic relations refers to the bilateral relations between the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Cuba. The Dominican Republic has a Embassy in Havana and Cuba has a Embassy in Santo Domingo.
