Hispaniola became a springboard for Spanish
conquest of the Caribbean and the American mainland. In 1697, Spain
recognized French dominion over the western third of the island,
which in 1804 became Haiti. The remainder of the island, by then
known as Santo Domingo, sought to gain its own independence in 1821,
but was conquered and ruled by the Haitians for 22 years; it finally
attained independence as the Dominican Republic in 1844. In 1861,
the Dominicans voluntarily returned to the Spanish Empire, but two
years later they launched a war that restored independence in 1865.
A legacy of unsettled, mostly non-representative rule followed,
capped by the dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas TRUJILLO from 1930-61.
Juan BOSCH was elected president in 1962, but was deposed in a
military coup in 1963. In 1965, the United States led an
intervention in the midst of a civil war sparked by an uprising to
restore BOSCH. In 1966, Joaquin BALAGUER defeated BOSCH in an
election to become president. BALAGUER maintained a tight grip on
power for most of the next 30 years when international reaction to
flawed elections forced him to curtail his term in 1996. Since then,
regular competitive elections have been held in which opposition
candidates have won the presidency. Former President (1996-2000)
Leonel FERNANDEZ Reyna won election to a second term in 2004
following a constitutional amendment allowing presidents to serve
more than one term.

Geography
Dominican Republic

Location:

Caribbean, eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, between
the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Haiti

Geographic coordinates:

19 00 N, 70 40 W

Map references:

Central America and the Caribbean

Area:

total: 48,730 sq km
land: 48,380 sq km
water: 350 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly more than twice the size of New Hampshire

Land boundaries:

total: 360 km
border countries: Haiti 360 km

Coastline:

1,288 km

Maritime claims:

measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines
territorial sea: 6 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

Climate:

tropical maritime; little seasonal temperature variation; seasonal
variation in rainfall

Terrain:

rugged highlands and mountains with fertile valleys interspersed

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Lago Enriquillo -46 m
highest point