Geography of the Dominican Republic Geography of the Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic (Spanish: "República Dominicana") is a country in the West Indies that occupies the eastern five-eighths of Hispaniola. It has an area of 48,670 km², including offshore islands. The land border shared with Haiti, which occupies the western three-eighths of the island, is 376 km long. The maximum length, east to west, is 390 km from Punta de Agua to Las Lajas, on the border with Haiti. The maximum width, north to south, is 265 km from Cape Isabela to Cape Beata. The capital, Santo Domingo, is located on the south coast. The
People of the Dominican Republic are most prominent in food, family structure, religion, and music. Many Arawak/Taíno names and words are used in daily conversation and for many foods native to the Dominican Republic. Spanish is the predominant language in the Dominican Republic; the local dialect is called Dominican Spanish, it closely resembles Canarian Spanish, and borrowed vocabularies from the Arawak language. Schools are based on a Spanish educational model, with English and French being taught as secondary languages in both private and public schools. Haitian Creole is spoken by the population of Haitian descent. There is a community of about 8,000 speakers of Samaná