The Dominican Republic is a country in the West Indies
that occupies the eastern two-thirds of the Hispaniola island.
It has an area of 48,442 km², including offshore islands.
The land border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti,
that occupies the western one-third of the island, is 388 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 Dominican Republic's shores are washed by the Atlantic Ocean
to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south.
The Mona Passage, a channel about 130 km wide, separates the country
(and the Hispaniola) from Puerto Rico.
Sempre nella zona montuosa si trova il
lago Enriquillo, il maggiore del paese, mentre il fiume principale è il
Rio Yaque. Le principali isole sono quelle di Beata e di Saona,
situate nella parte meridionale.
Map of the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country with many mountains,
and the highest peaks of the West Indies are found here.
The chains of mountains show a direction northwest-southeast,
except in the Southern peninsula (in Haiti) where
they have a direction west-east.
The mountains are separated by valleys with the same general direction.
The largest lake of the Hispaniola, and of the West Indies,
is the Lake Enriquillo. It is located in the Hoya de Enriquillo with an
area of 265 km². There are three small islands within the lake.
It is around 40 meters below sea level and is a saline lake with
a higher concentration of salt than the sea water.
The country is a tropical, maritime nation.
Conditions are ameliorated in many areas by elevation and by
the northeast trade winds, which blow steadily from the Atlantic all
year long.
The annual mean temperature is 25°C; regional mean
temperatures range from 18°C in the heart of the Cordillera Central
(Constanza) to as high as 27 °C in arid regions.
Temperatures rarely rise above 32°C, and freezing temperatures only occur
in winter in the highest mountains.
The average temperature in Santo Domingo in January is 24 °C and 27 °C in July.
The rain season for the northern coast is from November to January.
For the rest of the country, the rain season is from May to November.
The average annual rainfall es 1,346 mm, with extremes of 2,500 mm
or more in the mountainous northeast (the windward side of the island)
and 500 mm in the southwestern valleys.
The western valleys, along the Haitian border, remain relatively dry,
with less than 760 mm of annual precipitation.
The northwestern and southeastern extremes of the country are also arid.
The Dominican Republic is occasionally damaged by tropical storms
and hurricanes, which originate in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern
Caribbean from June until November (mainly from August to October) each year.