Dominican Republic - The Coconut Coast/Punta Cana

By Fe Lisa Bencosme

Best known around the world as “Punta Cana," the Coconut Coast is nothing less than central casting's vision of a Caribbean beach resort. All the superlatives are here along this 30-mile stretch of powdery white-sand beaches, swaying palm trees, and cryst

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hunter Publishing
• Release date: Feb 23, 2010
• ISBN: 9781588439369

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Introduction

History

The Dominican Republic has a long and turbulent history, with enough milestones to make for a crowded holiday calendar and enough firsts to fill a page in an almanac. (Among them is having the first European settlements in the New World, established by Christopher Columbus and his brother Bartholomew.) The island has played a pivotal role in the development of the Caribbean for more than five centuries, with ample amounts of blood and treasure spilled along the way. The Dominican national character has been shaped by centuries of colonialism, political and economic turmoil, outside invasions, civil wars, and racial divisions. Remarkably, the Dominican Republic has now entered a phase of comparative stability.

Historical Timeline

1000-500 BC.         First Amer-Indians arrive in what is now Hispaniola, probably from modern-day Mexico

0 BC.            Arawaks begin to arrive via the northern areas of South America

600-800AD. Tainos (an Arawak group) arrive and become dominant group on the island

1000 AD.     Caribs begin to arrive from Lesser Antilles

1492            Columbus arrives along northern coast; he names island Hispaniola and establishes settlement at La Navidad, in present-day Haiti

1493-94   Columbus returns to find original settlers dead; founds new settlement, La Isabela, off northern coast

1498         After La Isabela folds, Bartholomew Columbus (Christopher's brother) founds Santo Domingo on south coast

1500        Columbus is led back to Spain in shackles

1502         Nicolás de Ovando appointed governor of colony, founds Puerto Plata on north coast

1503        First city walls rise in Santo Domingo and first African slaves arrive on island

1504        Azua de Compostela founded

1506        Christopher Columbus dies

1508        Explorer Ponce de León constructs house in southeastern part of island

1509        Columbus' son Diego named governor of colony

early 1560s             Earthquakes damage Santo Domingo and Santiago

1586                       Francis Drake pillages Santo Domingo

1605        Spain torches north coast settlements of PuertoPlata and Montecristi

1655        English force led by William Penn invadesSanto Domingo

1697        In Treaty of Ryswick, Spain cedes westernone-third of Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti)to France

1737        Spanish import Canary Islanders to resettlePuerto Plata

1756        Santa Barbara de Samaná founded, also withCanary Islanders

1780s      150,000 settlers now populate colony

1791        Slave uprising in French Saint-Domingue (Haiti)led by Toussaint L'Ouverture

1794        France abolishes slavery in Saint-Domingue

1801        L'Ouverture takes Santo Domingo, mostlyunopposed; frees slaves in Spanish colony

1802        Spain cedes territory to France and Francedrives Haitians back into west

1804        L'Ouverture declares Haitian independence

1809        Eastern colony reincorporates with Spain,  reinstates slavery

1822        Haiti again invades Spanish colony, abolishesslavery, rules for next 22 years

1820s      Freed American slaves settle Samaná

1844        Juan Pablo Duarte and Trinitarians revoltagainst Haitians, establish independentDominican Republic on February 27 (nationalIndependence Day); first constitution signed

1861        General Pedro Santana invites Spanish toannex the country

1863        Rebellion against Spain leads to civil war

1865        Independence restored in War of Restoration

1870        U.S. Senate defeats plan of President Grant toannex the country

1882        General Ulises Heureux overthrows government

1899        General Heureux assassinated

1916-1924               U.S Marines occupy DR

1930        Rafael Trujillo stages coup and wins riggedelection; later renames Santo Domingo CiudadTrujillo

1937        Trujillo orders massacre of Haitians on Dominican side of border; an estimated 20,000 are slaughtered

1961        Trujilo assassinated

1962        Juan Bosch, a leftist, elected president in first  free elections in 38 years

1963        Military coup overthrows Bosch

1965        Bosch supporters launch counter-coup; U.S.Marines land again

1966/70/74      Joaquín Balaguer elected president in tainted votes

1978        Balaguer defeated by Antonio Guzman

1986        Balaguer reelected

1989        Nationwide workers' strike paralyzes country

1990        Balaguer again reelected

1992        Commemoration of 500 years of Columbus'arrival

1994        Balaguer re-elected

1996        Balaguer steps down amid fraud charges

1996        Leonel Fernández Reyna elected

1998        Hurricane Georges rips through island, causingmassive damage

2000        Hipólito Mejía elected

2004        Fernández defeats Mejía; Hurricane Jeanneravages island

2008        Fernández re-elected, with little competition

Government & Economy

Government

As its name suggests, the Dominican Republic (República Dominicana) is a republic (or representative democracy, as the US State Department calls it). The country first gained its independence in February of 1844, when it broke away from Haiti, and officially regained it - after one of its leaders gave it back to Spain - in 1865. Its first constitution was formally adopted in November 1844, and subsequently revised at least two dozen times, as the country suffered through a century of political instability followed by dictatorship. The DR's current constitution (with later modifications) was adopted in 1966 after several years of political turmoil and civil war and a US military intervention following the 1961 assassination of dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Under its constitution, the Dominican Republic is governed by three independent branches, much like the United States: an executive branch (consisting of an elected president and vice president and a cabinet appointed by the president); a legislative branch with an elected bicameral Congress.

The country is divided into 31 provinces and the National District of Santo Domingo, the capital, where the president's official residence is the National Palace.

Elections

The major political parties are the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC), the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), and the Independent Revolutionary Party (PRI). Voting is both universal and compulsory, for those aged 18 and over or those married at any age.

Presidential election politics have traditionally been highly spirited (sometimes violent) and elections have frequently been marred by irregularities, though the last few have run comparatively smoothly. Much of Dominican politics is based more on family ties and associations and on the country's social hierarchies than on formal institutions of government. Old rivalries and friendships often play a decisive role in who gets rewarded with government jobs and money, paving the way for corruption.

Economy

The Dominican economy has been on something of a roller-coaster ride since the late 1980s, when the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped sharply even as consumer price inflation spiraled out of control. In the 1990s, the DR enjoyed the opposite: several years of moderate to high growth with declining inflation. In the latter half of that decade, the country led the Western Hemisphere in GDP growth.

After slowing in 2001, the GDP bounced back in 2002 - but so did inflation, rising more than 10% that year. Prompted in part by a massive bank failure, the economy then went into recession in 2003, while inflation jumped an astonishing 27%. After enjoying several years of relative stability, the Dominican peso lost much of its value, with the exchange rate going from 18.6 to the US dollar in 2002 to 34 to the dollar in 2010. 

While the favorable exchange rate boosts tourism and is generally good news for foreign travelers (though, since many tour operators and hotels charge in dollars anyway, it doesn't always help), Dominicans have been hard hit by price hikes. About a quarter of the population still lives below the poverty line, and the unemployment rates often hovers around 15%. The uneven distribution of income is also pronounced, as evidenced by the fact that Santo Domingo has the highest number of Mercedes, per capita, of any city in the Western Hemisphere - while much of the population still depends on overcrowded guaguas (vans) and motoconchos (motorbikes) to get around. Literacy is estimated at 83%, despite only six years of compulsory education. Life expectancy is about 71 years for men, 75 years for women.

Engines of the Economy

Even withthe recent downturn, the country still has the largest economy in the Caribbean, with a labor force of around 2.5 million. Its three biggest economic sectors are government and services (especially tourism and transportation), industry (sugar refining, textiles, pharmaceuticals, cement, construction, light manufacturing), and agriculture. The service sector is the leading employer (primarily due to growth in tourism, telecommunications, energy, and Free Trade Zones). But agriculture is still the top sector in terms of domestic consumption and ranks second in export earnings behind mining (mainly of nickel, gold, silver and bauxite).

Nearly half of the Dominican population still live in rural areas, many of them small landholders. More than four-fifths of Dominican farms have an area of cultivable land below 15½ acres (6.3 hectares), which in most cases provides only enough land for subsistence farming. Near the coasts and in the fertile valleys, it's much more common to find large-scale farms and huge state-owned sugar plantations.

The steady growth of tourism provides one of the country's best hopes for economic recovery. In 1970, the tourism industry generated just under 5,000 jobs; in 1990, the number had jumped to more than 114,000 jobs; and by 2008, almost 900,000 were employed in tourism. To enhance the industry's prospects, the government has been expanding the country's infrastructure and its parklands.

Geography

The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola, the second-largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba. The separate nation of Haiti, with which it shares a 170-mile frontier, occupies the western third of the island.

Situated about midway between North and South America, Hispaniola is sandwiched between the Caribbean Sea to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. Jamaica and