Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

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Dominican Republic: The Society and Its Environment
eastward extension of the northern region, separated from the
Cordillera Septentrional by an area of swampy lowlands. The
peninsula is mountainous, with its highest elevations reaching
600 meters.
The central region is dominated by the Cordillera Central
(Central Range); it runs eastward from the Haitian border and
turns southward at the Valle de Constanza to end in the Caribbean
Sea. This southward branch is known as the Sierra de
Ocoa. The Cordillera Central is 2,000 meters high near the
Haitian border and reaches an elevation of 3,087 meters at
Pico Duarte, the highest point in the country. An eastern
branch of the Cordillera Central extends through the Sierra de
Yamasa to the Cordillera Oriental (Eastern Range). The main
peaks of these two mountain groups are not higher than 880
meters. The Cordillera Oriental also is known as the Sierra de
Seibo.
Another significant feature of the central region is the Caribbean
coastal plain, which lies south of the foothills of the Sierra
de Yamasa and the Cordillera Oriental. It extends 240 kilometers
from the mouth of the Ocoa River to the extreme eastern
end of the island. The Caribbean coastal plain is ten to forty
kilometers wide and consists of a series of limestone terraces
that gradually rise to an elevation of 100 to 120 meters at the
northern edge of the coastal plains at the foothills of the Cordillera
Oriental. Finally, the central region includes the Valle
de San Juan in the western part of the country; the valley
extends 100 kilometers from the Haitian border to Bafria de
Ocoa.
The southwestern region lies south of the Valle de San Juan.
It encompasses the Sierra de Neiba, which extends 100 kilometers
from the Haitian border to the Yaque del Sur River. The
main peaks are roughly 2,000 meters high, while other peaks
range from 1,000 to 1,500 meters. On the eastern side of the
Yaque del Sur lies the Sierra de Martin Garcia, which extends
twenty-five kilometers from the river to the Llanura de Azua
(Plain of Azua)
The Hoya de Enriquillo, a structural basin that lies south of
the Sierra de Neiba, is also within the southwestern region.
The basin extends ninety-five kilometers from the Haitian border
to the Bahia de Neiba and twenty kilometers from the
Sierra de Neiba to the Sierra de Baoruco. The Sierra de
Baoruco extends seventy kilometers from the Haitian border to
the Caribbean Sea. Its three major peaks surpass 2,000 meters
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