The Dominican Republic has the most rugged and complicated terrain on any of the islands of the Antilles. In general terms there are four major mountain systems and three intervening lowlands, lying roughly in an east-west direction.

One of the systems, the Cordillera Septentrional, is located between Montecristi and Nagua across the northern coast, and only small areas of coastal plain are found squeezed between the hills and the Atlantic Ocean. The principal mountain system is the Cordillera Central, which runs across the middle of the country from northern Haiti almost to Santo Domingo. Here there are more than 20 mountains with heights greater than 6,500 feet (2,000 meters), including the highest peak in the Antilles called Pico Duarte at 10,417 feet (3,175 meters). The Cordillera Central has a maximum width of 50 miles (80 kilometers) but makes up more than one third of the country. Two smaller mountain systems called Sierra de Neiba and Sierra de Baoruco are in the southwest.

These four mountain systems fix the limits of three lowlands. Between the Cordillera Septentrional and the Cordillera Central is the Cibao Valley. It contains areas of flat land that are particularly fertile to the east of the city of Santiago in a region called the Vega Real. It is well known for producing bananas, cacao, and rice. The San Juan Valley lies between the Cordillera Central and the Sierra de Neiba. This valley also has excellent soil and, with irrigation, has become a major rice-growing region. Farther to the south, between the Sierra de Neiba and the Sierra de Baoruco, is the Enriquillo Basin, which has a drier climate and contains the salty Lago Enriquillo 130 feet (40 meters) below sea level.

The only extensive coastal plain is in the southeast. Called the Caribbean coastal plain, it is the principal sugar cane and beef producing area.

Although the country is at tropical latitudes, the trade winds, the surrounding ocean, and high elevations combine in some areas to produce a climate that is far from typical of the tropics. In fact, frost is common on the highest peaks of the Cordillera Central. In most areas, however, temperatures are moderately high and vary little from season to season. Rainfall is normally greatest on the mountain slopes over which the easterly trade winds blow and decreases on the opposite slopes and in the major valleys.

The Dominican Republic once had many pine, hardwood, and mixed pine-hardwood forests. But hurricanes, fire, uncontrolled cutting, and conversion to agriculture have destroyed most of this woodland. Only 14 percent of the country still had hardwood forests in 1980. These are concentrated in the dry southwest and northwest and are being rapidly degraded by charcoal manufacturers and by goats that graze on seedlings. Pine forests remain in the higher and least accessible parts but now cover less than 10 percent of the nation. The country imports $30 million more wood products than it exports annually.

Its wide variety of topographic and climatic conditions has given the Dominican Republic the richest plant life in the Antilles. About 36 percent of the approximately 5,600 species are thought to be native. Over 125 plant species are threatened or in danger of extinction, including many kinds of orchids. A total of 139 resident and 90 migratory bird species have been identified. Serious habitat destruction, hunting, and the introduction of such species as the mongoose and rabbit, however, have reduced most native populations.

Most inhabitants live in the central part of the country, especially in the Cibao Valley and the Santo Domingo region. In the west along the Haiti border, population is sparse. The annual rate of growth is high at 2.6 percent. At this rate, population doubles in 27 years. Poverty has forced many people to leave the countryside and move into the towns, especially to the capital city, Santo Domingo. The urban population now exceeds the rural, and it is increasingly difficult for the new urban dwellers to find employment. Thousands of Dominicans have chosen to leave the country, particularly to go to the United States.

Although mulattos are most numerous, power has historically been in the hands of Dominican whites. They dominate business, finance, the prestigious professions, government, and high society. Mulattos are the majority in the military officer corps, the provincial towns, the less prestigious professions, and among lower- to middle-level government officials. Almost everyone speaks Spanish and is Roman Catholic. The church is influential on some issues--education, divorce, birth control--but its overall influence has diminished with time.

The economy is still dominated by agriculture, with 56 percent of the country used for crops or pasture. Small farmers produce staple foods, especially bananas (plantains), yucas, beans, and sweet potatoes. Although they make up the bulk of the rural population, these farmers have little land and they are too poor to apply the best farming practices. As a result their incomes remain low, and many migrate to urban areas in search of a better way of life. Foodstuffs are imported to make up the ever-increasing shortage in the nation's food production. Large farmers own the most fertile land and concentrate on crops for export, particularly sugar cane, coffee, cocoa, and tobacco; they also raise beef cattle.

There is growing concern about farming hillsides, especially by small farmers who cut down the forest and grow their crops without using conservation techniques that would protect against rapid soil erosion. To make things worse, much of the eroded soil is transported by rain into rivers that carry it into expensive reservoirs built for water supply, irrigation, and hydroelectric energy systems.

Agricultural products account for two thirds of export earnings. The rest comes largely from minerals, especially bauxite, nickel, and gold. The Dominican Republic is among the top ten gold-producing countries of the world and has the largest single gold mine in the Western Hemisphere. The income from the export of these metals is about equal to the amount spent on imported petroleum. Most of the remaining imports are manufactured goods such as machinery, chemicals, and foodstuffs.

In recent years the government has made great efforts to improve the economy by stimulating the tourist industry. More than 500,000 tourists visit the country each year to enjoy the warm climate, attractive beaches, and the capital city.

Christopher Columbus' brother Bartholomew founded Santo Domingo in 1496. This makes it the oldest permanently occupied town in the Americas. At that time there were more than a million native inhabitants on the island, but within 50 years most had died of starvation, overwork in the gold mines, and epidemics of European diseases. The gold that could be obtained using 16th-century mining techniques was exhausted by 1530, and Spain lost interest in her Santo Domingo colony soon afterward with the discoveries of Mexico and Peru. The Spaniards who remained on the island turned to cultivating sugar cane, using black slaves imported from Africa.

In 1697 Spain ceded the western third of Hispaniola to France. By the end of the 18th century, the new French possession known as St. Domingue was one of the world's richest colonies, producing vast quantities of sugar and cotton. It had 524,000 inhabitants, of whom 88 percent were African slaves. Santo Domingo, with twice the territory of its neighbor, had barely one fifth the population, and its economic growth was slow.

France gained control in 1795 of the whole island, but slave uprisings in the west led in 1804 to the creation there of Haiti, the world's first black republic (see Haiti). In 1814 Spain again got control of the eastern part of the island, but the Dominicans declared independence in 1821. Soon afterward the Haitians invaded the Dominican Republic and ruled it by force for 22 years. This occupation is often considered the cause of an antagonism that still separates Dominicans from Haitians. One favorable consequence of Haitian rule, however, was the freeing of slaves.

Unhappily, liberation from the Haitians did little to bring peace and economic progress. During the rest of the 19th century, the Dominican Republic suffered scores of revolutions, more armed invasions from Haiti, and another period of Spanish domination from 1861 to 1865. Money was borrowed recklessly by corrupt governments, and by 1916 the country was in political and economic chaos. World War I was in progress, and the United States decided to occupy the Dominican Republic to restore order and protect approaches to the Panama Canal. This occupation lasted for eight years, and, though there was opposition to it, the enforced political stability permitted major social and economic advances.

In 1930, however, there was another revolution, and the country fell into the hands of a dictator, Gen. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. For nearly 31 years, until his assassination in 1961, Trujillo headed a ruthless police state (see Trujillo Molina). At the cost of political freedom, the Dominican Republic had another period of imposed stability that, combined with favorable sugar prices, stimulated impressive economic growth. Five years of political turmoil after Trujillo's death led in 1965 to another intervention by the United States, which was concerned about the possibility of a Cuban-style Communist takeover. Since then the political scene has been relatively orderly with freely elected presidents. Joaquin Balaguer was president from 1966 to 1978, and was reelected in 1986 and 1990. Antonio Guzman Fernandez won a controversial election in 1978 and held office until 1982.

Much wealth has been generated, but it has always been unequally distributed. The bulk of the population remains poor and undernourished. In the 1980s the low price of sugar in the world market brought on a series of economic crises. Under Salvador Jorge Blanco, who was president from 1982 to 1986, the government instituted an austerity program. Wage controls and the removal of food subsidies led to rioting in 1984.

Economic difficulties persisted in the debt-ridden nation through the 1990 election, in which Balaguer defeated his long-time opponent, Juan Bosch. Austerity measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund were still in force in 1992. The 1991 deportation of illegal Haitian immigrants worsened relations with Haiti. Population (1991 estimate), 7,320,000.

Official Name. Dominican Republic.

Capital. Santo Domingo.

Area. 18,703 square miles (48,440 square kilometers).

Population (1994 estimate). 7,803,000; 417.2 persons per square mile (161.1 persons per square kilometer); 60 percent urban, 40 percent rural.

Major Language. Spanish (official).

Major Religion. Roman Catholic.

Literacy. 83 percent.

Highest Peak. Pico Duarte.

Major Rivers. Isabela, Macoris, Ozama, Soco.

Form of Government. Republic.

Head of State and Government. President.

Legislature. National Congress.

Voting Qualifications. Citizens who are 18 years old, excluding members of the armed forces and the police, may vote.

Political Divisions. 30 provinces.

Major Cities (1989 estimate). Santo Domingo 2,200,000, Santiago 467,000, La Vega 189,000, San Pedro de Macoris 137,000.

Chief Manufactured and Mined Products. Refined sugar, textiles, pharmaceuticals, bauxite, silver, gold.

Chief Agricultural Products. Crops--sugarcane, coffee, tobacco, cocoa, rice, potatoes, beans, cassavas, bananas (plantains). Livestock--cattle, goats, horses, donkeys.

Monetary Unit. 1 Dominican Republic peso = 100 centavos.