A wide variety of tropical climates and elevations have given the Dominican Republic one of the richest plant and animal populations in the world, with over a third of them being native just to the island of Hispaniola. The island once had vast forests of pide and hardwood, but recent hurricanes, fires and totally unregulated and uncontrolled deforestation have leveled much of what was once appealing to tourists. If you want to take a great trip and do something nice for the Caribbean, take an eco trip to one of the several new areas where they allow visitors to plant trees in reclaimed areas scheduled for reforestation to pay for their stay at the primitive (but fun) beach villas.

In 1492 Christopher Columbus landed at Mole Saint-Nicolas and immediately claimed the "uninhabited" land for Spain, much to the dismay of the native Tainos people standing on the beach of their homeland. A few weeks later, one of his ships, the Santa Maria ran aground and he was forced to leave 39 men behind, who started the settlement of La Navidade. After a big war between the natives and the Spanish, the 1500's came along and all the Taino people were dead from mistreatment, torture, disease, suicide and the break up by the Spanish of their families. Way to go Spain. You're batting a 1000 in the Caribbean. What followed was the natural Latin/Caribbean nation history of rebellion, uprising, pirates and ultimately, white sandy beaches and a towering Sheraton hotel with fat white people getting sun burned.