The Cordillera Central is the highest mountain range in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

and in all of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, running through the center of the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

in the

Greater Antilles The Greater Antilles is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, together with Navassa Island and the Cayman Islands. Seven island states share the region of the Greater Antille ...

. It is connected to the

Massif du Nord The Massif du Nord () is the longest mountain range of Haiti. Geography The mountain range is located in the northern region of Haiti, in the departments of the and in . The range's altitude varies from . The Plaine du Nord, Plaine-du-Nord lies ...

mountain range in beighboring

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

Geography

The Cordillera Central is home to the highest peaks in the Caribbean:

Pico Duarte Pico Duarte is the highest peak in the Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola and in all the Caribbean. At above sea level, it gives Hispaniola the 16th-highest maximum elevation of any island in the world. Additionally, it is only no ...

(3,098 m or 10,164 ft) (the highest point in the Caribbean), La Pelona (3,094 m or 10,150 ft) and La Rucilla (3,049 m or 10,003 ft). Connected to the smaller

, it gradually bends southwards and finishes near the town of San Cristóbal on the

coastal plains. Because of its altitude, cool temperature, and scenic vistas, the Cordillera Central is also known as the " Dominican Alps".

Parks

José Armando Bermúdez National Park José Armando Bermúdez National Park is a Dominican Republic National Park spanning the northern slopes and central portions of the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic, Central Mountain Range. Together with the National Park José del Carme ...

(Parque Nacional Armando Bermúdez) is located in the range, protecting a diversity of flora and fauna species. The pale magnolia tree (''Magnolia pallescens''), an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

endemic to the Dominican Republic, grows in the park.

Other ranges

In the southwest corner of the country, south of the Cordillera Central, there are two, largely dry and rocky ranges. The more northerly of the two is the Sierra de Neiba, while in the south the Sierra de Bahoruco is a continuation of the

Massif de la Selle A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of a ...

References

Mountain ranges of the Dominican Republic Cordilleras {{DominicanRepublic-geo-stub