TWO WORLDS: The Caribbean island of Hispaniola is split into two distinct nations—the Dominican Republic and Haiti—featuring vastly different economic, environmental, and social realities.

Hispaniola is an island in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean, located between Cuba and Puerto Rico. It is the Hispaniola most populous island in the West Indies and the second-largest by land area, after Cuba

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, while the Dominican Republic has built a much larger, more stable economy, even though both nations share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. This massive economic gap is the result of differing colonial histories, crippling debt, environmental pressures, and decades of political instability.

None of the other Caribbean Islands has such Charm, such an exotic and exuberant Zest for Living and such extensive, palm fringed Beaches.

Haiti, whose population is almost entirely descended from enslaved African people, won independence from France in 1804, making it the second country in the Americas.

Physiographically, the blessed Caribbean region is mainly a chain of islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea. To the north, the region is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida and the Northern Atlantic Ocean, which lies to the east and northeast. To the south lies the coastline of the continent of South America.