Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
lie's population, the twin constraints of limited land and limited
employment opportunities define the daily struggle for
existence.
In the midst of far-reaching changes, the republic continues
to be a profoundly family oriented society. Dominicans of every
social stratum rely on family, kin, and neighbors for social identity
and interpersonal relations of trust and confidence, particularly
in the processes of migration and urbanization. At the
same time, these processes often cause the family to disintegrate.
Geography
The Dominican Republic is located on the island of Hispaniola
(La Isla Espanola) , which it shares with Haiti to the west.
The 388-kilometer border between the two was established in a
series of treaties, the most recent of which was the 1936 Protocol
of Revision of the Frontier Treaty (Tratado Fronterizo) of
1929. The country is shaped in the form of an irregular triangle.
The short side of the triangle is 388 kilometers long, while
the two long sides form 1,575 kilometers of coastline along the
Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Mona Passage. The total
area of the country is 48,442 square kilometers. Although the
Dominican Republic boasts the highest elevations in the Antilles,
it also has a saltwater lake below sea level (see fig. 1).
Natural Regions
The mountains and valleys of the Dominican Republic
divide the country into three regions: the northern region,
central region, and southwestern region. The northern region
borders the Atlantic Ocean and consists of the Atlantic coastal
plain, Cordillera Septentrional (Northern Range), Valle del
Cibao (Cibao Valley), and Samana Peninsula. The Atlantic
coastal plain is a narrow strip that extends from the northwestern
coast at Monte Cristi to Nagua, north of the Samana Peninsula.
The Cordillera Septentrional is south of and runs parallel
to the coastal plain. Its highest peaks rise to an elevation of
more than 1,000 meters. The Valle del Cibao lies south of the
Cordillera Septentrional. It extends 240 kilometers from the
northwest coast to the Bahia de Samana (Samana Bay) in the
east and ranges in width from fifteen to forty-five kilometers.
To the west of the ridge lies the Valle de Santiago, and to the
east is the Valle de la Vega Real. The Samana Peninsula is an
58