The Dominican Republic (República Dominicana in Spanish) occupies the eastern 2/3 of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. One of the islands of the Greater Antilles, Hispaniola is east of Jamaica, southeast of Cuba, and west of Puerto Rico. A former Spanish colony, the country was conquered twice by Haiti in the early 1800s but has been independent since 1844. Santo Domingo, the capital and major port of the republic, is also the oldest European settlement in the Western Hemisphere, founded in 1496. The first lighthouse in the Dominican Republic was at Santo Domingo in 1853, and this was the only lighthouse until the Puerto Plata lighthouse was installed in 1879. Most of the light stations date from the early 1900s but their histories remain poorly known. Many stations are described as established in 1915, but this may be simply the date when they became known in the international light lists. The Dominican Rpublic is divided into 31 provinces (provincias) plus the National District including the capital of Santo Domingo. In Spanish the word for a lighthouse is faro, baliza is a beacon, isla is an island, cabo is a cape, punta is a promontory or point of land, péñon is a rock, arrecife is a reef, bahía is a bay, ría is an estuary or inlet, estrecho is a strait, río is a river, and puerto is a port or harbor. Aids to navigation in the republic are maintained by the General Directorate of Dredging, Dams and Beaconing, a unit of the Dominican Navy. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from Volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA numbers are from Publication 110.
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North Coast Lighthouses
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South Coast (Caribbean Sea) Lighthouses
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![]() Cabo Engaño Light, Cabo Engaño, June 2024 photo copyright Capt. Peter Mosselberger; used by permission |
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![]() Santo Domingo Range Lights, Santo Domingo, May 2010 photo copyright Capt. Theo Hinrichs; used by permission |
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Other notable faux lighthouses:
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Turks and Caicos Islands | East: Puerto Rico | West: Haiti
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Created March 2005. Checked and revised January 18, 2025. Lighthouses: 33. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.