Dominican Republic

After Christopher Columbus's arrival on the island in 1492, Santo Domingo became the site of the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas. The colonial town, founded in 1498, was laid out on a grid pattern that became the model for the New World.

Hispaniola is the second largest and most populated island in the Caribbean region. It is located within the Greater Antilles and is divided politically into two separate sovereign nations: the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

La Isabella was founded by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage in 1493 and was the first European town in America. It was intended to be Columbus's home in the New World and a base from which to establish Spanish presence and dominion in the West Indies.

This transboundary biosphere reserve includes the biodiverse reserves of La Selle in Haiti and Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic. These two reserves also include the La Visite National Park in Haiti and the Lago Enriquillo National Park in the Dominican Republic.

Lake Enriquillo is a hypersaline lake located in the southwestern region of the Dominican Republic. Lago Enriquillo and Isla Cabritos National Park comprise the lake and the island at its center. Las Caritas is a collection of Indian inscriptions in a rock formation.

Los Haitises National Park is a protected area located on the remote northeast coast of the Dominican Republic. Featuring a spectacular landscape of conical hills, mangroves and coastal rock islets, it protects a diverse habitat of subtropical forests and coastal mangroves.

Pico Duarte is the highest peak on Hispaniola. A series of mountain chains, known in the Dominican Republic as the Cordillera Central, spans the central part of the island, from the coast of the Dominican Republic into Haiti, where it is known as the Massif du Nord.