Capital: Santo Domingo

* Tostones * Flan * Chicharron * Empanada

* Bachata * While Luis Segura is widely acclaimed as "the father of Bachata", José Manuel Calderón is credited with recording the first Bachata songs on May 30th, 1962, in the studios of Radiotelevisión Dominicana (Borracho de amor and Condena). These early recording will hardly be recognized as Bachata today. They were heavily influenced by Cuban Bolero such as Verdadero amor. Indeed, the music was not called Bachata. It was called Bolero Campesino. It was played using an acoustic guitar and was slower than the Bachata of today. Cuban Bolero is a Latin version of Blues replete with themes like deception and lost love. One of Calderón's songs, Boracho de amor, even has a waltz rhythm.

* Merengue * After its introduction in the Dominican Republic, Merengue music remained controversial and relegated to the lower classes and Dominicans of African origin until the 1930s when dictator Rafael Trujillo used Perico Ripiao (a style of Merengue music) bands playing Merengue music for his presidential campaign. Later, a wealthy member of the upper class the capital, Santiago, commissioned one Luis Alberti a write compose a Merengue song for a daughter's fifteenth birthday. The result was Compadre Pedro Juan a song that became so popular, it became a Merengue anthem.