[Not to be confused with Dominica]

The Dominican Republic (Spanish: República Dominicana, pronounced [re'puβlika ðomini'kana]) is a Latin American country located in the Greater Antilles archipelago on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. It shares the island with the Republic of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are split by two countries; the other is Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten. Hispaniola is the second-largest of the Greater Antilles, and lies west of Puerto Rico and east of Cuba and Jamaica.[2]
The Dominican Republic is the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, its capital Santo Domingo,[3] which was also the first colonial capital in the Americas.[4] It is the site of the first cathedral,[1] university, European-built road, European-built fortress, and more.