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
Constitution of the Dominican Republic Constitution of the Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic has gone through 39 constitutions, more than any other country, since its independence in 1844. This statistic is a somewhat deceiving indicator of political stability, however, because of the Dominican practice of promulgating a new constitution whenever an amendment was ratified. Although technically different from each other in some particular provisions, most new constitutions contained in reality only minor modifications of those previously in effect. Sweeping constitutional innovations were actually relatively rare. The large number of constitutions does, however, reflect a basic lack of consensus on the rules that should govern the