capital: Santo Domingo
current president: Leonel Fernandez Reyna (terms 1996-2000, 2004-2012)
population: about 9 million
language: Spanish
religion: 95% Roman Catholic
currency: Dominican Peso (DOP) 37.7 per $1
geography facts:
>The Dominican Republic is 2/3 of the island of Hispaniola, sharing the other 1/3 with Haiti.
>The climate is very tropical, staying just around 77 degrees year round. May to November is typically their rain season, with August to September being their hurricane season in the south.
other interesting facts:
>In 2000, a law was passed mandating that the Bible be read in public schools, but it is not enforced.
>Dominicans love baseball. Many professional players from the US are from the DR. In 2010, about 86 professional players were from the DR, out of 231 foreign-born players.
Most facts were gathered from Compassion International's website.
