The Dominican Republic is in Latin America, a region just above South America where many Hispanics live. This small country is east of Haiti and south of the Atlantic Ocean. To the east of the Dominican Republic is Puerto Rico, and below it is the Caribbean Sea.  There are 18,657 square miles in area, which is the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Santo Domingo, located in the southern area of the Dominican Republic, is the country's capital. The dominant language of the Dominican Republic is Spanish, but there is a small percentage of people who speak English. Given the fact that it is the first Spanish colony in the Americas, not many people speak any other language. Only 83% of Dominicans are literate, and the other 27% consist of people who either did not get a good education or who never even attended school at all. 

               Many who reside in the Dominican Republic are Roman Catholic, but there are many other religions that are practiced such as Seventh Day Adventist, Baptist, and Mormon. 95% of Dominicans are Roman Catholic, therefore making it the most practiced religion. Many Dominicans are very holy and religious, and attend church as often as possible if they have transportation. Anyone over 18 or anyone who is married (regardless of that  person's age) is eligible to vote. However, any person who works as a police officer or is in the armed forces is not allowed to vote. The president and the vice-president are directly elected to office as opposed to the votes going to Electoral College. There are two main parties that have dominated Dominican office since the 1960's: the Reformist Party and the Dominican Revolutionary Party. 

  The president of the DR 

         In the Dominican Republic baseball is a very important sport. They watch it, play it and love it. At night before their children go to sleep, they tell riddles. Not just for their children but also for fun. They visit friends, hang out and have great times. For sports they play soccer (not many play it though), volleyball, and basketball. The other cool thing they do is art. Celebrating family and religion is what they do best. The Dominican Republic has many popular players come and compete in the Olympics. For their holidays they have Independence day, on Feb 27th. Another big holiday is Founding of Santo Domingo, on Aug 5th. And the last main holiday is Restoration Day, on Aug 16th. For fun they do plenty of things: chores, riddles, baseball, etc. With celebrating they can never get bored.

          The Dominican Republic is just like us. They wear the same types of clothing. Some of their food is like what we have here. For food in Dominican Republic they have black and red beans, white rice, and sweet potato's.  For fruit they have plantains, pineapple, oranges and grapefruit. They love spicy foods. They drink coffee, beer, and rum. On special occasions the men dress up and wear cologne. Women wear skirts, tank tops, and heels. They have things we wear and some of the same foods that we eat. The Dominican Republic is full of people who are exactly the same as us in many ways, but we are also very different.