In the heart of the Caribbean, washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the north and the impetuous Caribbean Sea in the south, nestles a placid and beautiful country officially called The Dominican Republic.
It is located between latitude 17o 40’ and 19o 56’ North and longitude 68o 20’ and 72o01’ west of the Greenwich meridian (GMT -4). Christopher Columbus discovered the island on December 5, 1492, during his first voyage to the New World.
It occupies 18,704 sq. mi/48,442 sq. km of the 76,192 sq. km it shares with the neighboring Republic of Haiti. Its natural beauty and rich history fascinate as well excite those who get to know it.

By a 1508 royal edict, King Ferdinand of Spain named it the Island of Santo Domingo. Its aboriginal name, Quisqueya, in the Taíno language means “mother of all lands.” Well before the Iberian presence, our island was inhabited by an indigenous population who called themselves the “Taínos”, a word that in their language means “the good.”
The Taínos, a part of the broader Arawakan culture, may have originated from the tropical region of the South America. Through a series of migrations by canoe, they settled throughout the archipelago of islands in the Lesser Antilles. They were physically well-built; they had a rather tawny complexion and dark eyes. Relatively peaceful, even when they were nearly subjugated under the dominion of a chieftain, called a cacique, historical records do, however, reveal a people who valiantly defended their families, their land, and their freedom, when the Conquistadors tried to enslave them. Unfortunately, a population estimated at around 600,000 was practically exterminated in less than thirteen years.
Taíno sociopolitical structure was organized under five polities or cacicazgos: Marién, governed by Guacanagarix; Maguá was dominated by the cacique Guarionex; Caonabo ruled in Maguána; in Higüey, Cayacoa; and Jaragua fell under the might of Bohechío. After Bohechío’s death, his sister, the widow of Caonabo, the cacica Anacaona, emerged as the successor. She was reputed to have been a most efficient administrator, and the most beautiful and highly respected woman on the island. Nevertheless, she had to witness the merciless slaughter of her people at the sword of Nicolas de Ovando, the Spanish governor, in 1503. This first act of cruelty has gone down in historical records as the Jaragua Massacre. Imprisoned, the Queen answered with these verses:
“It is not honorable to kill; nor can honor propitiate the tragedy.  Let us open a bridge of love, so that across it even our enemies may walk and leave for posterity their footprints.”