Today class, we will be discussing the Dominican
Republic. Has anyone ever lived or been to this country? Did you know that in the
Caribbean, it is two-thirds of the island Hispaniola between the Caribbean Sea
and the North Atlantic Ocean,
bordering Haiti The capital of the city is
Santo-Domingo which is located in the southern region of the island.
This country has
three major mountain ranges: The Central Mountains,
which originate in Haiti and span the central part of the island, ending up in
the south. This mountain range boasts the highest peak in the
Antilles,
Pico Duarte
(3,087 m
/ 10,128 ft
above sea level).
The Septentrional Mountains, running parallel to the Central Mountains, separate
the Cibao Valley and the Atlantic coastal plains. The highest point here is Pico
Diego de Ocampo. The lowest and shortest of the three ranges is the Eastern
Mountains, in the eastern part of the country. The area in comparison to the
United States is more than twice the size of New Hampshire. From recent data,
the coastline is 1,288 km. The country is a Tropical Maritime; with a wet season
from May to November and periodic
cyclones
between June and November. Most rain falls in the Northern and Eastern regions.
The average rainfall
is 1346 mm, with extremes of 2500 mm in the North-east and 500 mm in the West.
The mean annual
temperature
is ranges from 21°C in the mountainous regions to 25°C on the plains and the
coast. The average temperature in
Santo Domingo
in January is 23.9°C, and 27.2°C in July. There are also rugged highlands and
mountains with fertile valley interspersed.
How any of you children ever heard of
Christopher Columbus? He was an Italian explorer, who was granted permission by
King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain to sail in search of gold. He also
had three ships called the "Pinta", "Nina" and the "Santa Maria" which consisted
of about 90 crew members.
On his first expedition on October 11,
1492 he explored and claimed the Caribbean island off the southeastern North
America called Hispaniola. in 1697, Spain recognized French dominion over the
western third of the island which in 1804 became Haiti. By then the island known
as the Santo Domingo, was determine 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 June 2005 there was an estimation of
8,950,034 which the age group 15 to 64 years dominated the country with 61.7% of
the countries population: males 2,815,544 and females 2,703,012.With a growth
rate of 1.29% in 2005, there were 23.28% births and a rate of 7.35% deaths.
Their ethnicity consists of 16%white, 11% black and 73% mixed. The fluent
language spoken is Spanish. The Dominican Republic is a Hispanic country.
Therefore, 95% of the country's Dominicans are baptized in the Roman Catholic
Church and other religious groups are the Evangelical Christians and the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Around one percent of the nation's
inhabitants practice pure spiritism, although it is very common for Catholicism
and spiritism to be mixed in Santeria's séances and "saint" parties.
What sport
do you all think they play there?
Baseball
is the top national sport in the Dominican Republic and there are many popular
Dominicans who play
Major League Baseball
in the United States like:
The Dominican Republic also has its own baseball league, which many MLB players
go to during off-season, and which is also a "training ground" for the MLB.
This year they also participated in the first World Baseball Tournament.
Now that we have finished our lesson on the
Dominican Republic lets see how many people really paid attention. There will be
reward for those who get at least two out of the four correct. Good luck
Where is the Dominican Republican
located or what bodies of water surround the country?
What is the capitol of Dominican
Republic
What is the main language they speak?
Name one famous Baseball player that is
from Dominican Republic.
Answers:
In Latin America or between the Atlantic
ocean and Caribbean Sea.
