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Updates: 

Sorin Cosoveanu noted the name change of Salcedo to Hermanas Mirabal.

FIPS PUB 10-4 Change Notice 13 was issued on 2008-02-04. The only change in the Dominican Republic is to the spelling of Bahoruco.

The new of provinces of San Jose de Ocoa and Santo Domingo were incorporated into the FIPS standard by FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, issued on 2006-03-23. They were incorporated into the ISO standard by the issuance of the second edition of ISO 3166-2, dated 2007-12-15.

With respect to telephone dialing, the Dominican Republic is in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), which means that its international dialing code is 1, followed by the area code. The Dominican Republic originally was in area code 809, but in 2005 it was overlaid with area code 829.

Update I-1 to ISO 3166-2 was published on 2000-06-21. All of the provinces were originally assigned two-letter codes by the ISO secretariat. Those have been replaced by two-digit codes taken from source [1]. This eliminates an error in ISO 3166-2, where the code EP was used for two provinces. Also, the update changed the spelling of one of the provinces' names from El Seibo to El Seybo.

Country overview: 

Short name	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
ISO code	DO
FIPS code	DR
Language	Spanish (es)
Time zone	-4
Capital	Santo Domingo

 

The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. The boundary between these two countries has remained fairly stable throughout the 20th century. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about their system of government. The Dominican Republic was dominated by Rafael Trujillo from 1930 to 1961. He and his family attempted to impose their names on several geographical features.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Den Dominikanske Republik
2. Dutch: Dominicaanse Republiek
3. Finnish: Dominikaaninen tasavalta
4. French: République f dominicaine
5. German: Dominikanische Republik f
6. Icelandic: Dóminíska lýðveldið
7. Italian: Repubblica f Dominicana
8. Norwegian: Den dominikanske republikk (Bokmål), Den dominikanske republikken (Nynorsk)
9. Portuguese: República f Dominicana
10. Russian: Доминиканская Республика
11. Spanish: República f Dominicana
12. Swedish: Dominikanska republiken
13. Turkish: Dominik Cumhuriyeti

Origin of name: 

from Santo Domingo, the capital, which was named by Columbus in 1496 in honor of his father's patron saint.

Primary subdivisions: 

The Dominican Republic is divided into 31 provinces and one district.

Province	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Pc	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Azua	DO.AZ	02	DR01	71	208,857	2,688	1,038	Azua (de Compostela)
Bahoruco	DO.BR	03	DR02	82	91,480	1,244	480	Neiba
Barahona	DO.BH	04	DR03	81	179,239	1,647	636	(Santa Cruz de) Barahona
Dajabón	DO.DA	05	DR04	63	62,046	1,004	388	Dajabón
Distrito Nacional	DO.NC	01	DR34	10	913,540	91	35	Santo Domingo
Duarte	DO.DU	06	DR06	31	283,805	1,640	633	San Francisco de Macorís
Elías Piña	DO.EP	07	DR11	73	63,879	1,397	539	Comendador
El Seybo	DO.SE	08	DR28	24	89,261	1,775	685	(Santa Cruz de) El Seybo
Espaillat	DO.ES	09	DR08	56	225,091	825	319	Moca
Hato Mayor	DO.HM	30	DR29	25	87,631	1,324	511	Hato Mayor (del Rey)
Hermanas Mirabal	DO.SC	19	DR19	34	96,356	430	166	Salcedo
Independencia	DO.IN	10	DR09	83	50,833	1,754	677	Jimaní
La Altagracia	DO.AL	11	DR10	23	182,020	3,001	1,159	(Salvaleón de) Higüey
La Romana	DO.RO	12	DR12	22	219,812	656	253	La Romana
La Vega	DO.VE	13	DR30	41	385,101	2,274	878	(Concepción de) La Vega
María Trinidad Sánchez	DO.MT	14	DR14	33	135,727	1,212	468	(Trinidad Sánchez) Nagua
Monseñor Nouel	DO.MN	28	DR31	42	167,618	992	383	Bonao
Monte Cristi	DO.MC	15	DR15	62	111,014	1,886	728	(San Fernando de) Monte Cristi
Monte Plata	DO.MP	29	DR32	92	180,376	2,613	1,009	Monte Plata
Pedernales	DO.PN	16	DR16	84	21,207	2,018	779	Pedernales
Peravia	DO.PV	17	DR35	94	169,865	785	303	Baní
Puerto Plata	DO.PP	18	DR18	57	312,706	819	316	(San Felipe de) Puerto Plata
Samaná	DO.SM	20	DR20	32	91,875	845	326	(Santa Bárbara de) Samaná
Sánchez Ramírez	DO.SZ	24	DR21	43	151,179	1,191	460	Cotuí
San Cristóbal	DO.CR	21	DR33	91	532,880	1,240	479	San Cristóbal
San José de Ocoa	DO.JO	31	DR36	93	62,368	853	329	San José de Ocoa
San Juan	DO.JU	22	DR23	72	241,105	3,360	1,297	San Juan (de la Maguana)
San Pedro de Macorís	DO.PM	23	DR24	21	301,744	1,255	484	San Pedro de Macorís
Santiago	DO.ST	25	DR25	51	908,250	2,809	1,084	Santiago (de los Caballeros)
Santiago Rodríguez	DO.SR	26	DR26	64	59,629	1,152	445	(San Ignacio de) Sabaneta
Santo Domingo	DO.SD	32	DR37	107	1,817,754	1,302	503	Santo Domingo Este
Valverde	DO.VA	27	DR27	61	158,293	809	312	Mao
32 divisions					8,562,541	46,888	18,104
Province: except for Distrito Nacional, which is a district. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes (based on the original ISO 3166-2 codes). ISO: codes from ISO 3166-2, same as ONE codes. FIPS: codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Pc: Beginning of range of postal codes (see below). Population: 2002-10-18 census. Capital: When part of the name of a capital is in parentheses, that means that the capital has a short, informal name, and a formal name including the parenthetical part. The shorter form is commonly used.

Postal codes: 

In 2005, the Dominican Republic switched from four-digit to five-digit postal codes. In Distrito Nacional (10000-10699) and Santo Domingo (10700-11999), hundreds of codes have been assigned; in the rest of the provinces, the last three digits are always 000. The first digit determines a region, as defined by the Instituto Postal Dominicano: 1 = Distrito Nacional, 2 = Este, 3 = Norte, 4 = Cibao Central, 5 = Norcentral, 6 = Noroeste, 7 = El Valle, 8 = Enriquillo, 9 = Valdesia. The census report calls them regiones de desarrollo (development regions). It calls number 3 "Nordeste".

Further subdivisions:

See the Municipalities of the Dominican Republic page.

The provinces are subdivided into municipios (municipalities). There were 61 of them in 1935, rising to 97 in 1993, and 161 in 2002, but falling to 155 in 2007. The municipalities are further subdivided into 380 distritos (districts), which are classified as either distritos cabeceras or distritos municipales. The Oficina Nacional de Estadística (ONE) has created a hierarchical system of codes in the format "nn nn nn", where each "n" is a digit. The first two digits represent the province, the first four represent a municipality, and the full set represent a district. Trailing digits are all 0's for the higher-level divisions.

Territorial extent: 

1. Independencia contains most of Lago Enriquilla, including all of Isla Cabritos.
2. La Altagracia includes Isla Saona.
3. Pedernales includes Isla Beata and Cayo los Frailes.

Origins of names: 

1. Azua: native word for Spanish montuna, which can mean either mountainous or hard to tame
2. Bahoruco: Taino name for the Yaque del Sur River
3. Distrito Nacional: = national district
4. Duarte: named for Juan Pablo Duarte, 19th-century revolutionary
5. Elías Piña: named for Colonel Elías Piña, hero of the wars of independence
6. Espaillat: named for Ulises Francisco Espaillat (1823-1878), 19th-century author and governor
7. Hato Mayor: = greater cattle-raising district
8. Hermanas Mirabal: named for the Mirabal sisters (Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa), martyred for their opposition to Rafael Trujillo.
9. La Altagracia: the brothers Alonso and Antonio de Trejo arrived from Spain in the early 16th century with a painting of Our Lady of La Altagracia. Miracles are attributed to it.
10. Monseñor Nouel: named for a president of the republic, Monseñor Dr. Adolfo Alejandro Nouel y Bobadilla
11. María Trinidad Sánchez: named for a female soldier in the wars of independence
12. Pedernales: = flints
13. Puerto Plata: = silver port
14. Sánchez Ramírez: named for Brigadier Juan Sánchez Ramírez, hero of the battle of Palo Incado (1808)
15. San Pedro de Macorís: macorís is a native word for "speaker of a foreign language"
16. Santiago Rodríguez: named for one of the founders of the city (founded in 1844)
17. Valverde: named for General José Desiderio Valverde, 19th-century governor

Change history: 

1. 1882-09-10: San Pedro de Macorís became distrito marítimo (maritime district, equivalent to province).
2. The provinces in 1935 were Azua, Barahona, Duarte, Espaillat, La Vega, Montecristi, Puerto Plata, Samaná, San Pedro de Macorís, Santiago, Santo Domingo (modern Distrito Nacional), Seibo (modern El Seibo), and Trujillo (modern San Cristóbal). The territory of the old province is usually larger than that of the modern province because of subsequent splitting. As a rule, the capital of the old province is the same as the capital of the modern province I have mentioned.
3. 1936: Name of national capital changed from Santo Domingo to Ciudad Trujillo, after the dictator Rafael Trujillo, who came to power in 1930. Name of Distrito Nacional changed to Distrito de Santo Domingo.
4. 1938-04-19: Benefactor province (modern San Juan) split from Azua; Libertador province (modern Dajabón) split from Montecristi; Monseñor de Meriño province split from Trujillo.
5. 1939: Monseñor de Meriño province split, part merged with Trujillo, and the rest merged with Distrito de Santo Domingo.
6. 1942: San Rafael province (modern Elías Piña) split from Benefactor.
7. 1943-03-10: Bahoruco province split from Barahona (or Azua?).
8. 1944: José Trujillo Valdez province split from Azua.
9. 1945: La Altagracia province (capital La Romana) split from Seibo.
10. 1948: Santiago Rodríguez province split from Montecristi, now spelled Monte Cristi.
11. 1950-01-01: Independencia province split from Bahoruco.
12. 1952-08-16: Salcedo province split from Espaillat; Sánchez Ramírez province split from Duarte.
13. 1957: Name of Distrito de Santo Domingo restored to Distrito Nacional.
14. 1958: Pedernales province split from Barahona.
15. 1959-01-01: Valverde province split from Santiago.
16. 1961: Rafael Trujillo assassinated on 1961-05-30. Name of national capitol restored to Santo Domingo; name of Trujillo province changed to San Cristóbal; name of José Trujillo Valdez province changed to Peravia; name of Benefactor province changed to San Juan; name of Libertador province changed to Dajabón.
17. ~1963: María Trinidad Sánchez province (at first also known as Trinidad Sánchez Nagua province) split from Samaná.
18. 1965: Name of San Rafael province changed to La Estrelleta.
19. 1967-05-12: Name of capital of Valverde changed from Valverde to Mao.
20. ~1968: La Romana province split from La Altagracia.
21. 1972: Name of La Estrelleta province changed to Elías Piña; name of its capital changed back to Comendador.
22. ~1979: Name of capital of Santiago Rodríguez province changed from Santiago Rodríguez to Sabaneta (restoring the name previously changed in 1936).
23. ~1992: Hato Mayor province split from El Seibo (former FIPS code DR07); Monseñor Nouel province split from La Vega (DR13); Monte Plata province split from San Cristóbal (DR22).
24. 2000-06-21: ISO 3166-2 standard spelling of El Seibo changed to El Seybo. It appears to me that the two spellings are interchangeable in common use, but this may represent a change in the official government spelling.
25. 2001-10-16: Santo Domingo province split from Distrito Nacional (former HASC code DO.DN, FIPS code DR05).
26. 2002-01-01: San José de Ocoa province formed by taking the municipios of Rancho Arriba, Sabana Larga, and San José de Ocoa from Peravia (former codes DO.PR, DR17).
27. 2007-11-20: Name of Salcedo province changed to Hermanas Mirabal.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Bahoruco: Baoruco (variant)
2. Dajabón: Libertador (obsolete)
3. Distrito Nacional: Santo Domingo (obsolete)
4. Elías Piña: La Estrelleta, San Rafael (obsolete)
5. El Seybo: El Seibo, El Seybo (variant); Seibo (obsolete)
6. Hato Mayor: Hato Mayor del Rey (variant)
7. Hermanas Mirabal: Salcedo (obsolete)
8. María Trinidad Sánchez: Trinidad Sánchez Nagua (obsolete)
9. Peravia: José Trujillo Valdez (obsolete)
10. San Cristóbal: Trujillo (obsolete)
11. San Juan: Benefactor (obsolete); San Juan de la Maguana (variant)

Population history:

Province	1935-05-13	1950-08-06	1960-08-07	1970-01-09	1981-12-12	1993-09-24	2002-10-18
Azua	158,913	50,608	75,147	91,511	140,914	199,684	208,857
Baoruco		39,858	52,343	66,572	78,042	105,206	91,480
Barahona	95,349	62,166	79,880	112,914	141,313	164,835	179,239
Dajabón		26,470	40,822	50,780	54,675	68,606	62,046
Distrito Nacional	93,986	239,464	462,192	817,067	1,540,786	2,193,046	913,540
Duarte	120,936	164,400	161,326	200,813	227,798	281,879	283,805
Elías Piña		33,013	43,266	53,228	61,895	64,641	63,879
El Seibo	134,847	97,710	115,604	132,795	151,227	96,770	89,261
Espaillat	81,396	154,829	117,126	139,579	163,860	202,376	225,091
Hato Mayor						80,074	87,631
Hermanas Mirabal			68,656	89,773	94,173	101,810	96,356
Independencia		20,801	27,475	32,580	35,908	39,541	50,833
La Altagracia		74,087	104,987	87,180	96,009	115,685	182,020
La Romana				56,995	107,021	166,550	219,812
La Vega	166,353	195,424	248,069	293,694	389,950	344,721	385,101
María Trinidad Sánchez			85,185	97,043	99,731	124,957	135,727
Monseñor Nouel						149,318	167,618
Monte Cristi	87,022	82,588	59,240	69,276	83,124	95,705	111,014
Monte Plata						167,148	180,376
Pedernales			8,652	12,547	15,493	18,054	21,207
Peravia		81,911	106,736	127,587	169,067	201,851	169,865
Puerto Plata	103,043	133,652	163,896	185,800	201,893	261,485	312,706
Samaná	24,645	83,263	44,592	53,893	64,537	75,253	91,875
Sánchez Ramírez			93,498	106,177	119,866	163,166	151,179
San Cristóbal	159,117	164,674	249,776	324,395	444,948	420,820	532,880
San José de Ocoa							62,368
San Juan		106,802	148,206	191,065	231,509	252,637	241,105
San Pedro de Macorís	59,357	64,205	68,953	105,490	147,777	212,368	301,744
Santiago	194,453	259,947	287,941	386,269	533,102	710,803	908,250
Santiago Rodríguez			40,399	49,958	56,144	62,144	59,629
Santo Domingo							1,817,754
Valverde			59,558	76,608	94,579	152,257	158,293
Total	1,479,417	2,135,872	3,013,525	4,011,589	5,545,341	7,293,390	8,562,541

 

The Dominican Republic has had eight modern censuses, starting with the census of 1920-12-24. Censuses of 1935 and 1960: source [2]. Census of 1950: source [7]. 1981 populations: source [3]. 1993, 2003 populations: Source [4].

Sources: 

1. [1] "Listado de Códigos por Provincias, Municipios y Distritos Municipales del País 1995" (List of Codes by Provinces, Municipalities and Municipal Districts of the Country 1995), Oficina Nacional de Estadística. The same codes, as well as the municipality and district codes, can be found by going to the ONE codes page  and downloading "Tabula de Municipios y Distritos Municipales al 2007 DC" (retrieved 2008-01-13).
2. [2] Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas (1951, 1957, 1964 editions).
3. [3] Desarrollo Humano en la República Dominicana: El Estado de los Indicadores Relevantes  (retrieved 2007-06).
4. [4] "Resultados Definitivos, VIII Censo Nacional de Población y Vivienda 2002, Vol I", retrieved 2007-06 from Oficina Nacional de Estadística .
5. [5] "República Dominicana, Album Estadístico Gráfico MCMXLIV, Año de Centenario". Dirección General de Estadística, Ciudad Trujillo, 1944-02-27.
6. [6] Library of Congress country study .
7. [7] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).