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Programs Offered:
WISE Abroad offers
internships and language training in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
About the Dominican Republic and Santo
Domingo:
Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic (DR), is
the Caribbean`s
most cosmopolitan city and also the oldest in the Western
Hemisphere. Santo Domingo's colonial area houses over a
dozen museums filled with treasures from around the world, and
serves as a historical marker where Christopher Columbus first
landed in the Americas. Enchanting beaches are only an
arms throw away from Santo Domingo, and only a few hours away
lie the most famous beaches in the Caribbean where hundreds of
thousands of foreign tourists travel each year. Dominican
people are generally known for having happy dispositions, and
many believe that they derive and create their happiness from
merengue and salsa music which is played ubiquitously in every
corner of the country.
The Dominican Republic has
great geographic diversity, having extensive beaches of white
sand, fertile valleys with exuberant vegetation, desert zones
with dune formations, and mighty mountain chains. Despite the
country's economic woes mainly due to the global economic
downturn, the country's political atmosphere remains relatively
stable.
Location:
Caribbean, eastern two-thirds of the island
of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic
Ocean, east of Haiti
Population
8,833,634 (July 2004 est.)
Religion
Roman Catholic 95%
Language
Spanish Government Type
Representative democracy
Economy:
The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean
representative democracy which enjoyed GDP growth of more than
7% in 1998-2000. Growth subsequently plummeted as part of the
global economic slowdown. Although the country has long been
viewed primarily as an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco,
in recent years the service sector has overtaken agriculture as
the economy's largest employer, due to growth in tourism and
free trade zones. The country suffers from marked income
inequality; the poorest half of the population receives less
than one-fifth of GNP, while the richest 10% enjoys nearly 40%
of national income. Growth turned negative in 2003 with reduced
tourism, a major bank fraud, and limited growth in the US
economy, the source of 87% of export revenues. Resumption of a
badly needed IMF loan was slowed due to government repurchase of
electrical power plants.
NOTE: Please visit the CIA World
FactBook for more country facts at:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
Source: CIA World Factbook |
