Dominican Republic Geography

The Dominican Republic covers about 48,700 square kilometres, occupying the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti — the only Caribbean island divided between two sovereign states.

Mountains

Four ranges run roughly north-west to south-east. The Cordillera Central is the spine, rising to Pico Duarte at 3,098 metres — the highest point in the entire Caribbean, high enough for frost and for pine forest rather than palm. The Cordillera Septentrional runs along the north coast, and the Sierra de Bahoruco crosses the south-west.

Valleys

Between the ranges, the Cibao valley is broad and very fertile, and has been the agricultural heart of the country since the colonial period.

The south-west

Geologically the most unusual part. Lago Enriquillo sits about 40 metres below sea level — the lowest point in the Caribbean — is saltier than the sea, and holds American crocodiles and, on its islands, rock iguanas. It is the remnant of a channel that once separated two islands, and the surrounding country is dry scrub and cactus rather than rainforest.

Coast

Around 1,600 kilometres of it, with reef and white sand in the east, cliffs and surf on the north, and mangrove in Samana Bay and Los Haitises.

One island, two countries

The border with Haiti runs for about 380 kilometres, and the contrast along it is visible from the air: forest cover on the Dominican side against largely cleared hillsides on the Haitian one, the result of decades of divergent land and fuel policy rather than any difference in the terrain. The two countries share the same mountains, the same rainfall and the same hurricanes, which makes the line one of the more studied environmental boundaries anywhere.

Amber

The northern range holds some of the world’s finest amber, frequently containing insects, and the blue amber found here occurs almost nowhere else.