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| Conventional Long Form: | Dominican Republic |
| Conventional Short Form: | none |
| Location: | Caribbean, eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Haiti |
| Capital City: | Santo Domingo |
| Government Type: | Representative Democracy |
| Population: | 8,581,477 (July 2001 est.) TD> |
| Area [sq.km]: | 48,730 (slightly more than twice the size of New Hampshire) |
| Currency: | Dominican peso (DOP) |
| Languages: | Spanish |
| National Holiday: | Independence Day, 27 February (1844) |
| Background: | A legacy of unsettled, mostly non-representative, rule for much of the 20th century was brought to an end in 1996 when free and open elections ushered in a new government. |
