The Dominican Republic is a 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.
Dominicans are an ethno-national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusion of European, native Taino, and African elements, which is an ethnic fusion that goes back to the 16th century. Due to this fusion, the majority of Dominicans are of mixed-race heritage, tracing roots mainly to these three sources with the vast majority being of predominant European ancestry. The demonym Dominican can be traced as far back as the 1621, the name came from Santo Domingo, which was not only the name of the capital city but also of the entire island at the time, Spain used this term to refer to the inhabitants of Spanish colony of Santo Domingo. Recent immigrants and their children, who are legal citizens of the Dominican Republic, can be considered "Dominican" by nationality but not ethnicity due to not having ancestral roots in the country.
Chinatowns in Latin America developed with the rise of Chinese immigration in the 19th century to various countries in Latin America as contract laborers in agricultural and fishing industries. Most came from Guangdong Province. Since the 1970s, the new arrivals have typically hailed from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Latin American Chinatowns may include the descendants of original migrants — often of mixed Chinese and Latino parentage — and more recent immigrants from East Asia. Most Asian Latin Americans are of Cantonese and Hakka origin. Estimates widely vary on the number of Chinese descendants in Latin America but it is at least 1.4 million and likely much greater than this.
Miches is a town located in El Seibo province in the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic. The community sits between the northern slopes of the Cordillera Oriental and the southern shore of the Samaná Bay.
Sosúa is a beach town in the Puerto Plata province of the Dominican Republic approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) from the Gregorio Luperón International Airport in San Felipe de Puerto Plata.
Japanese Dominicans are Dominican citizens of Japanese origin. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates the Japanese descended population in the country at roughly 800. As of 2013, there were also 873 Japanese nationals in the Dominican Republic. These consist of both the settlers who have retained their Japanese citizenship and more recent expatriate residents. The Dominican Republic has the largest Japanese population in the Caribbean and Central American region.
Rail transport in the Dominican Republic is provided by one state-owned operator and several private ones, mainly for sugar mills. There are no connections with the neighbouring Haiti.
Moca is the capital of Espaillat province in the Cibao region of the Dominican Republic, and is the tenth-largest city of the country with a population of 173,442 inhabitants. Moca is located 11 miles/18 kilometers east from the country’s second-largest city, Santiago. It is divided into eight municipal districts: San Víctor, Las Lagunas, José Contreras, Juan López, El Higuerito, La Ortega, Monte de la Jagua and Canca La Reina.
Dionicio Gustavo is a karateka from the Dominican Republic who twice won the gold medal at the Pan American Games.
Yamilet Peña Abreu is an elite artistic gymnast from the Dominican Republic who won a gold medal at the 2014 World Challenge Cup and the 2012 Pan American Championship in vault and a bronze medal at the 2012 World Cup. She is known for her execution of the Produnova—a handspring double front on vault. She qualified for the vault finals at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2011 and the 2013 World Championships.
White Dominicans are Dominican people of predominant or full European descent. They are 17.8% of the Dominican Republic's population, according to a 2021 survey by the United Nations Population Fund. The majority of white Dominicans have ancestry from the first European settlers to arrive in Hispaniola in 1492 and are descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese who settled in the island during colonial times, as well as the French who settled in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many whites in the Dominican Republic also descend from Italians, Dutchmen, Germans, Hungarians, Scandinavians, Americans and other nationalities who have migrated between the 19th and 20th centuries. About 9.2% of the Dominican population claims a European immigrant background, according to the 2021 Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas survey.
The Haitian minority of the Dominican Republic is the largest ethnic minority in the Dominican Republic since the early 20th century.
Dominicans in Spain from the Dominican Republic make up about 1.66% of all foreigners in Spain, this includes immigrants and people of Dominican descent born in Spain. The first country of destination for Dominicans in Europe is Spain, and it is the country with the most Dominican migrants outside of the United States.
Elnis Palomino Castillo is a Dominican Republic male volleyball player who competed with the Dominican club La Romana in the 2013 FIVB Club World Championship.
Luisito Pié, also known as Luis Pie, is a Haitian-Dominican taekwondo athlete who won the bronze medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 58 kg category.
Diario Libre is one of the leading newspapers in the Dominican Republic.
Los Mameyes is a neighbourhood in the city of Santo Domingo Este in the province of Santo Domingo of the Dominican Republic. This neighbourhood is populated in particular by individuals from the middle classes.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the Dominican Republic was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached the Dominican Republic on 1 March 2020.
Emmanuel Reyes, is a Dominican singer, songwriter and professional baseball pitcher. He was a pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2022 he participated in the television series The Voice Dominicana, and in 2019 he was a semi-finalist in the television series Dominicana's Got Talent.
