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Dominican Republic

Dominicanese

Active member
Country
Dominican-Republic
Dominican Republic

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Culture:
The culture of the Dominican Republic is a diverse mixture of different influences from around the world. The Dominican people and their customs have origins consisting predominately in an African cultural basis, with both European and native Taíno influences.

Cuisine:
If we look at the cuisine of the Dominican Republic, we will see that the cuisine is predominantly a blend of Taino, Spanish and major African influences that it has been under for the last couple of centuries now. The Dominican Republic’s cuisine that you will find today is a combination of all the influences the region has had historically. The most typical meal from the cuisine of Dominican Republic would be quite similar to a meal that can be found in the cuisine of Latin America. Therefore, finding the traditional cuisine of Dominican Republic will indeed be a tedious task. The meals found in the cuisine of Dominican Republic have a tremendous similar taste of the meals in the Spanish cuisine. Perhaps not only the historic influence these other regions have had over Dominican Republic are solely responsible for the loss of its traditional and cultural heritage but also because the cuisine of Dominican Republic greatly uses the ingredients that are used to prepare cuisines of these other regions which have left a tremendous mark on Dominican Republic.
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Universally it is known that the Dominican cuisine is not only easy but also very spontaneous and fun to prepare. The recipes to the cuisines of Dominican Republic’s cuisine have been notably passed through one generation to the next and so on. The unusual aspect of the Dominican Republic’s cuisines are that for breakfast there is usually a light meal, and the same light meal is prepared for dinner as well. Common meals in the cuisine of Dominican Republic are mangu which is usually accompanied by scrambled eggs and is usually topped with onions that are sautéed. Commonly a few pieces of boiled cassava or any other root is thought to be a great substitute for the mangu. You will notice that in the cuisines of Dominican Republic, dairy products such as cheese are immensely used in the region’s cuisines. The cuisines of Dominican Republic are fun to make, some of the recipes of these cuisines might require a little time, but overall they are extremely easy to prepare and a joy to serve and eat at the same time.
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The food traditions and festivals in Dominican Republic are truly unique. Family meals are quite different. By and large, the male head of the family is served first by his wife, along with any visitors. After the wife has served the male head of the family and the guests then the children and the wife eat. Lunch is the imperative meal of the day in the traditional Dominican Republic custom. People usually come home from work to eat rather than dine outside of their homes. The breakfast and supper are relatively small in Dominican Republic whereas the dinner is grand. A traditional blessing of “buen provecho” is offered commonly before or during meals. The common festivals that are prevalent in Dominican Republic are Epiphany, Day of Duarte, February 27—Independence Day, Pan-American Day, Bachata Festival of Sousa, Columbus Day, and of course the Christmas Day. All these festivals are marked with a grand array of the traditional Dominican cuisine to be served and prepared. Moreover, other traditional customs such as weddings, birth of a baby, funerals etc., all call for the traditional food of the Dominican Republic to be served to the guests.


Music:
Merengue is a musical genre native to the Dominican Republic. It has a moderate to a very fast 2/4 rhythm played on güira (metal scraper) and the double-headed tambora. The accordion is also common. Traditional, accordion-based merengue is usually termed merengue típico and is still played by living accordionists like Francisco Ulloa, Fefita la Grande, El Ciego de Nagua, and Rafaelito Román. More modern merengues incorporate electric instruments and influences from salsa, and rock and roll. Choruses are often sung in a call and response form by two or three back-up singers, or more traditionally, by the musicians playing tambora or güira. Beginning in the 1960s, dancing became a part of the singers' work with Johnny Ventura's Combo Show format, and is now a staple of many of the genre's biggest stars. Lyrically, irony and double entendres are common Merengue continued to be limited in popularity to the lower classes, especially in the Cibao area, in the early 20th century. Artists like Juan F. García, Juan Espínola and Julio Alberto Hernández tried to move merengue into the mainstream, but failed, largely due to social prejudices. Some success occurred after nationalistic feelings arose among the Cibao elite who resented the U.S. occupation of the country from 1916–1924. Legend has it that at this time the faster (merengue típico cibaeño) was slowed down to accommodate American soldiers who couldn't dance the difficult steps of the merengue; this mid-tempo version was called pambiche. Major mainstream acceptance started with Rafael Trujillo's rise to power in the early 1930s.
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Palo is a Dominican (Dominican Republic) Dominican sacred music that can be found through the island. The drum and human voice are the principal instruments. Palo is played at religious ceremonies - usually coinciding with saint's days - as well as for secular parties and special occasions. Its roots are in the Congo region of central-west Africa, but it is mixed with European influences in the melodies. Palos are related to Dominican folk Catholicism, which includes a pantheon of deities/saints (here termed misterios) much like those found in the Afro-American syncretic religious traditions of Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, and elsewhere. Palos are usually associated with the lower class, black and mixed populations. They can be seen in different regions of Dominican Republic, but with variations.


Ethnic Racial Composition:
* 45% Mulatto
* 40% Black
* 15% White
 

Dominicanese

Active member
Country
Dominican-Republic
People:
It is estimated that some 894,000 enslaved Africans were brought to the Island of Hispaniola between 1492 and 1870. The slaves came from various West African regions, but the majority came from primarily the Congo region (present-day Angola, Congo, Gabon, and Cameroon) and the gold coast/Guinean (present-day Ghana and Guinea).
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In addition, many immigrants arrived from other places around the world. After the last smuggled slave ship that arrived in 1898, many Chinese people came to the island due to the Chinese Revolution, along with the Arabs of North Africa (Morocco or Algeria) and Indians. Immigration from Europe, most notably Spaniards, Italians and Germans occurred during the later parts of the nineteenth century into the beginning of the twentieth century, mostly settling in Santo Domingo and in rural areas in the Cibao valley alike. During World War II, the Dominican Republic became the only nation to take in Jewish refugees by orders from then president Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Nearly 800 German and Austrian Jews settled in the town of Sosua, Puerto Plata. Today, the majority of the Dominican population consist of Blacks and Mulattoes.


Languages:
Spanish is the official language of the Dominican Republic. They however, also speak a local dialect in informal situations and it is simply known as Dominican Spanish. Dominican Spanish has it's roots in Andaluzian and Canarian Spanish but with strong influences from West African languages. In the Cibao region, there is a minor Portuguese influence in the dialect.

Economy:
The economy of the Dominican Republic is the eighth largest in Latin America, and is the largest in the Caribbean and Central America region. The Dominican Republic is an upper middle-income developing country primarily dependent on mining, agriculture, trade, and services. The country is the site of the single largest gold mine in Latin America, the Pueblo Viejo mine. Although the service sector has recently overtaken agriculture as the leading employer of Dominicans (due principally to growth in tourism and free-trade zones), agriculture remains the most important sector in terms of domestic consumption and is in second place (behind mining) in terms of export earnings. Tourism accounts for more than $1 billion in annual earnings. free-trade zone earnings and tourism are the fastest-growing export sectors. According to a 1999 International Monetary Fund report, remittances from Dominican Americans, are estimated to be about $1.5 billion per year. Most of these funds are used to cover basic household needs such as shelter, food, clothing, health care and education. Secondarily, remittances have financed small businesses and other productive activities. An ongoing concern in the Dominican Republic is the inability of participants in the electricity sector to establish financial viability for the system. Three regional electricity distribution systems were privatized in 1998 via sale of 50% of shares to foreign operators; the Mejía administration repurchased all foreign-owned shares in two of these systems in late 2003. The third, serving the eastern provinces, is operated by U.S. concerns and is 50% U.S.-owned. The World Bank records that electricity distribution losses for 2005 totaled about 38.2%, a rate of losses exceeded in only three other countries. Industry experts estimate distribution losses for 2006 will surpass 40%, primarily due to low collection rates, theft, infrastructure problems and corruption. At the close of 2006, the government had exceeded its budget for electricity subsidies, spending close to U.S. $650 million. The government plans to continue providing subsidies. Congress passed a law in 2007 that criminalizes the act of stealing electricity, but it has not yet been fully implemented. The electricity sector is a highly politicized sector and the prospect of further effective reforms of the electricity sector is poor. Debts in the sector, including government debt, amount to more than U.S. $500 million. Some generating companies are under capitalized and at times unable to purchase adequate fuel supplies. Unfortunately, over 70% of the population suffers from poverty.

Videos:
 

Carlito's Way

Well-known member
Country
Mexico
how do you feel about the new president? i dont know much about latin america politics other than Mexico so im interested how the new president will make DR become a better nation, and how the relations between DR and Haiti will be with this new president
 

Dominicanese

Active member
Country
Dominican-Republic
how do you feel about the new president? i dont know much about latin america politics other than Mexico so im interested how the new president will make DR become a better nation, and how the relations between DR and Haiti will be with this new president

ugh, theyr all the same to me

the only one in recent times that i felt was good even though he was basically another trump in the way he speaks is hipolito mejia, in his time though many would argue otherwise, there were way more jobs and shit was cheaper

lol this is him
 
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