Dominican Member of the Order of Friars Preachers, a Roman Catho¬ lic preaching and teaching order founded by St. Dominic. It dates officially from 1216, when Pope Honorius III gave it his approval, though Dominic had begun to build it at least a decade earlier. In contrast with earlier orders, the Dominicans were not organized in autonomous monastic houses, but joined the order at large and could be sent to any house or
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562 I Dominican Republic ► donatario
province on the order’s business. The early teaching centers were at Bolo¬ gna, Paris, Cologne, and Oxford. Dominican preachers spoke out against the Cathari, the Moors, and the Jews and were among the first mission¬ aries under the Spanish and Portuguese explorers. Dominicans were put in charge of the Inquisition when it was founded. Perhaps their most famous member was St. Thomas Aquinas.
Dominican Republic Country in the West Indies, occupying the east¬ ern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti. Area: 18,792 sq mi (48,671 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 8,895,000. Capitaclass="underline"
Santo Domingo. The majority of the people are of mixed European-African ancestry; most of the rest are of European or African descent. Language: Spanish (official). Religion: Christianity (predomi¬ nantly Roman Catholic; also Protestant). Currency: Dominican peso. The country is generally mountainous, with ranges and hills running from northwest to southeast. The Central Highlands reach 10,417 ft (3,175 m) at Duarte Peak, the highest point in the West Indies. The Cibao Valley in the north is noted for its fertility; the southwestern part of the country is generally dry with large stretches of desert. Traditionally dominated by sugar production, the Dominican Republic’s mixed economy became increasingly diversified in the late 20th century, when the country expe¬ rienced one of the world’s highest economic growth rates, though wide¬ spread poverty remained despite a growing middle class. It is a republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the presi¬ dent. The Dominican Republic was originally part of the Spanish colony of Hispaniola. In 1697 the western third of the island, which later became Haiti, was ceded to France; the remainder of the island passed to France in 1795. The eastern two-thirds of the island were returned to Spain in 1809, and the colony declared its independence in 1821. Within a matter of weeks it was overrun by Haitian troops and occupied until 1844. Since then the country has been under the rule of a succession of dictators, except for short interludes of democratic government, and the U.S. has frequently been involved in its affairs. The termination of the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in 1961 led to civil war in 1965 and U.S. military inter¬ vention. For the rest of the country, politics in the Dominican Republic were dominated by seven-time president Joaquin Balaguer. The country suffered from severe hurricanes in 1979 and 1998.
domino theory or domino effect Doctrine of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War, according to which the fall of a noncommunist state to communism would precipitate the fall of other neighbouring noncom¬ munist states. The theory was first enunciated by Pres. Harry Truman, who used it to justify sending U.S. military aid to Greece and Turkey in the late 1940s. Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson
invoked it to justify U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia, espe¬ cially the prosecution of the Vietnam War.
dominoes Game of several variations played with a set of flat rectan¬ gular blocks (dominoes) whose faces are divided into two equal parts that are blank or bear from one to six dots arranged as on dice faces. The usual set consists of 28 pieces. Dominoes in China may date to the 12th cen¬ tury ad; the Eskimos have also long played a domino-like game. There is no record of dominoes in Europe before the mid-18th century. The prin¬ ciple in nearly all modern dominoes games is to match one end of a piece to another that is identically or reciprocally numbered. The game may be set at 50 or 100 points.
Domitian \do-'mish-3n\ Latin Caesar Domitianus Augustus orig. Titus Flavius Domitianus (b. Oct. 24, ad 51—d. Sept. 18, 96, Rome) Roman emperor (81-96). The son of Vespasian, he succeeded his brother Titus, whom he probably had killed. His administration was osten¬ sibly egalitarian and based on precedent, but his laws were severe. Defeats in Britain and Germany undid his successes, though increased pay for the army kept it loyal. From 89 he became crueler, imposing a reign of ter¬ ror over prominent senators and confiscating his victims’ property to cover imperial expenses. The group that killed him included his wife and possibly his successor, Nerva.
domovoy Vds-ms-'voA In Slavic mythology and folklore, a spirit- guardian of home and family. It never leaves the household to which it belongs. It favours hardworking people; when displeased with its family, it may cause trouble with farm animals or make knocking or grating noises. Its weeping, moaning, or singing are interpreted as portents of evil or good.
Don \'don\ In Welsh mythology, a mother-goddess, the counterpart of the Irish Danu. According to the Mabinogion, she was the sister of the magician-king Math and the mother of Gwydion (a master of magic and poetry) and Arianrhod, who was in turn the mother of Dylan (presumed to be a sea god) and Lieu Llaw Gyffes (probably the Welsh form of Lugus).
Don Juan Fictional character famous as a heartless womanizer but also noted for his charm and courage. In Spanish legend, Don Juan was a licentious rogue who seduced a young girl of noble family and killed her father. Coming across a stone effigy of the father in a cemetery, he invited it home to dine with him, and the ghost of the father arrived for dinner as the harbinger of Don Juan’s death. The legend of Don Juan was first written down by Tirso de Molina, who gave it an original twist in his trag¬ edy The Seducer of Seville (1630). The story was subsequently taken up by many other artists including W. A. Mozart, in the opera Don Giovanni (1787); Moliere and George Bernard Shaw, in plays; and Lord Byron in his long satiric poem Don Juan (1819-24).
Don Pacifico Affair (1850) Conflict between Britain and Greece that originated when the home of David Pacifico (known as Don Pacifico), a British subject living in Athens, was burned down in an anti-Semitic riot. In support of his demand for compensation, Viscount Palmerston sent a naval squadron to blockade the Greek coast. Palmerston’s policy drew protests from France and Russia as well as Britain’s House of Lords, but he won the support of the Commons after arguing that Britain should pro¬ tect its subjects from injustice wherever they might live.