Dominica vs Dominican Republic

Why people mix them up

The names look like a short and long form of the same thing, and both countries are islands in the Caribbean. Both were named after Sunday ("dies dominica" in Latin) by early Spanish sailors, which explains the overlap. Beyond the name, however, they have almost nothing in common: one is a small, mountainous, English-speaking island in the Lesser Antilles, the other is a Spanish-speaking country that takes up most of Hispaniola, the second-largest island in the Caribbean.

How to tell them apart

• Dominica is a single small island of about 750 km²; the Dominican Republic covers roughly 48,000 km² and shares its island with Haiti.
• Dominica lies between Guadeloupe and Martinique in the eastern Caribbean; the Dominican Republic sits far to the north-west, between Cuba and Puerto Rico.
• Dominica's official language is English; the Dominican Republic speaks Spanish.
• The population gap is huge: about 70,000 in Dominica against roughly 11 million in the Dominican Republic.
• Dominica's flag is green with a Sisserou parrot in a red disc; the Dominican Republic's flag is blue and red quartered by a white cross.
• The capitals are Roseau (Dominica) and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).

Memory hook

Dominica is pronounced "dom-in-EE-ka" and is the tiny one; "Republic" is the long name for the big country that is half of Hispaniola.

On the map

For the Dominican Republic, find Cuba, move east to the next large island, Hispaniola, and tap its eastern two-thirds; Haiti is the western third. For Dominica, follow the chain of small islands curving south from Puerto Rico towards South America; Dominica is the island just south of Guadeloupe and just north of Martinique, roughly halfway down the chain.