Raul Alejandro

The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti. It has a tropical climate, but moist, year-round trade winds keep temperatures between 72 and 83 degrees. Nearly three out of four Dominicans have both black and Caucasian ancestry. Spanish is the official language, and 95 percent of Dominicans are Catholic. Nearly 90 percent of Dominicans live in rural areas where unemployment is high and malnutrition is widespread. A family’s diet consists mainly of rice, beans and chicken. Though agriculture was long the economic mainstay, in recent years growth in tourism and free-trade zones has made the service sector the country’s largest employer. Compassion works with children in nearly every region of the country. The Taínos people were the country’s original inhabitants. In 1492, they welcomed Christopher Columbus in his first voyage to the island, but subsequent colonizers were brutal, reducing the Taíno population from about 1 million to about 500 in 50 years. Hispaniola became the center of Spanish rule in the West Indies. The indigenous people were wiped out and slaves were brought from Africa to populate the island. The descendants of those slaves form most of the population today. For three centuries, Spain governed Hispaniola, followed by France. In 1804, the western part of the island won independence as the Republic of Haiti. In 1844, the eastern two-thirds of the island revolted and formed the Dominican Republic. In 2004, Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna was elected to his second term as president.