Dom. Rep. or D.R. are the common
abbreviations for Dominican Republic. The D.R. is located on Hispaniola, an
island belonging to the Greater Antilles, in the Caribbean. It shares the
island with Haiti. D.R. is, after Cuba, the second largest nation in the
Caribbean. It’s size of about 48.000 km2 is a bit less than that of
Costa Rica, and a bit more than that of Denmark. Population is more than 10
million, thus slightly more than Sweden or Hungary.
With Pico Duarte, D.R. has the
highest point of the Caribbean, reaching an altitude of ~3170m, and with Lago
Enriquillo as well the deepest point of the Caribbean at ~40m below sea level.
The D.R. has a huge range of
ecosystems, and thus a huge biodiversity, including the highest percentage of
endemic plant and animal species in the region. One of those, a strange looking
mammal about the size of a cat, is the Solenodon, which has been on earth
already in the era of the dinosaurs.
Agriculture produces all, from
products known more likely as from northern countries, to typical tropical
ones, from potato to cocoa, all within this small country. D.R. has valuable
timber species as well, like the real mahogany, or green ebony. Hurricanes pass around occasionally, so do earthquakes.
Hispaniola was the first stronghold
of the Spaniards in the New World, and for long time the main hub for silver
and gold shipped from the Americas to Europe. It’s said that in the waters
around the island are about 400 ship wrecks from that time are buried. In its capital, Santo Domingo, the
D.R. has the oldest cathedral of the New World, the oldest fortress of the New World, and the oldest university of the New World, among others.
A unique gem of the country is the
blue amber (bluish under UV-light) which is not found anywhere else in the
world, while Larimar, with its also unique blue color, is considered as being
the “national” stone. Other specialties, albeit not here exclusively are known
as well to be typical for D.R., such as cigars, cocoa, coffee and rum.
According to some travel guides,
there might be various places found in the D.R. which are known from TV, such
as the “Bacardi Island”, or a waterfall seen in “Jurassic Park”. Strangely
enough, such things are “known” from being in other countries too, so it might
be doubted. However, besides Caribbean and
Atlantic beaches, there are many attractions and activities be found in D.R.,
such as whale watching, rafting, canyoning, paragliding, mountaineering, and
horseback riding, among others.
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| An idea to where D.R. is (not in Africa or Europe ;-) ) |
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| Blue Amber |
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| Jens with Cambodian flag on Pico Duarte, the highest point of the Caribbean |
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| Hispaniolan Solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus) © Eladio Fernandez |
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| Salto de Jimenoa, Jarabacoa |
Love,
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