The Dominican Republic, occupying the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, has an area of 18,816 sq. mi. (48,734 sq. km.) and a population of 8.49 million. Capital: Santo Domingo. The agricultural economy produces sugar, coffee, tobacco and cocoa., ,Columbus discovered Hispaniola in 1492, and named it La Isla Espanola ? ?the Spanish Island.? Santo Domingo, the oldest white settlement in the Western Hemisphere, was the base from which Spain conducted its exploration of the New World. Later, French buccaneers settled the western third of Hispaniola, which in 1697, was ceded to France by Spain, and in 1804 became the Republic of Haiti ? ?mountainous country.? At the time, the Spanish called their part of Hispaniola Santo Domingo, and the French called their part Saint-Domingue. In 1822, the Haitians conquered the entire island and held it until 1844, when Juan Pablo Duarte, the national hero of the Dominican Republic, drove them out of eastern Hispaniola and established an independent Dominican Republic. The republic returned voluntarily to Spanish dominion ? after being rejected by France, Britain and the United States ? from 1861 to 1865, when independence was restored.,,, ,Dictatorship and democratic rule was intersperced and from 1916-1924 it was occupied by the U.S. from 1930 to 1961, Rafael Trujillo was dictator. In the 1994 elections, a reform government gained power.,,, Monetary System:,,, ,1 Peso Oro = 100 Centavos Oro,,