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Puerto Plata, Cabarete, Dominikanische Republik

Location:
The Dominican Republic, together with Haiti, shares the island of Hispaniola (in German also called Little Spain). Natural borders to the north are the Atlantic Ocean and to the south the Caribbean Sea.

Climate:
Tropical with high humidity, average temperatures are 28 degrees Celsius, and cooler temperatures in the mountain area. It is located in the tropical hurricane area.

Culture:
Season’s highlight:  a two week merengue-festival, Puerto Plata has its own festival in October.

Currency:
Dominican Pesos (RD$)

People:
The population is largely made up of Taino-Indians and descendents of Spanish colonial settlers as well as of African slaves. The language is Spanish.

Religion:
95 % of the people are of  roman-catholic faith

History:
It was discovered December 6,  (hier stimmt die Jahreszahl im deutschen Text nicht: 1992 ist unmöglich  ....? )by Columbus. As of 1861 it became independent from the Spanish colonial occupiers.

Today its form of government is a republic with a president.

Economy:
The most important source of income is tourism. 42% is farming, 17 % industry, 41 % service industry. Tourism is the most important source of income.