History of the Dominican Republic History of the Dominican Republic The recorded history of the Dominican Republic began when the Genoa-born navigator Christopher Columbus, working for the Spanish Crown, happened upon a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. It was inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawakan people, who variously called their island Ayiti, Bohio, or Quisqueya (Kiskeya). Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, naming it La Isla Española ("the Spanish Island"), later Latinized to Hispaniola. What would become the Dominican Republic was the Spanish Captaincy General of Santo Domingo
Economy of the Dominican Republic China 13.9%, Mexico 4.5%, Brazil 4.3% (2017) Debt - external: $29.69 billion (31 December 2017 est.) Economic aid - recipient: $76.99 million (2005) Currency: Dominican peso Exchange rates: Dominican pesos per US dollar - 33.113 (2007), 33.406 (2006), 30.409 (2005), 42.12 (2004), 30.831 (2003) Fiscal year: calendar year Economy of the Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic has the ninth largest economy in Latin America, and is the largest in the Caribbean and Central region. It is an upper middle-income developing country primarily dependent on mining, agriculture, trade, and services. Although the service sector has recently overtaken agriculture as the leading