Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa, officially the Federative Republic of Santa Teresa (Spanish: República Federativa de Santa Teresa) is a country located in the Caribbean Sea. Santa Teresa is the second-largest nation in the Antilles by area (after Cuba) at 97,341 square kilometers (37,583 sq mi), and the largest by population, with approximately 25.3 million inhabitants (2020 est.), of whom approximately 10.2 million live in the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, the capital city. The official languages of the country are Spanish and English. Santa Teresa is organized as a federation comprising 12 provinces and a federal territory.

The native Taíno people had inhabited the island of Hispaniola and later mainland Santa Teresa before the arrival of Europeans, with Hispaniola being divided into five chiefdoms while Santa Teresa was one big chiefdom. They had constructed an advanced farming and hunting society, and were in the process of becoming an organized civilization. The Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus explored and claimed the island for Castile, landing there on his first voyage in 1492. The colony of Catalina became the site of the second permanent European settlement in the Americas after the colony of Santo Domingo and the second seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World. Most Taínos immigrated to mainland Santa Teresa, most of them later died, above all, from European infectious diseases to which they had no immunity. Other causes were abuse, suicide, the breakup of family, starvation, the encomienda system, which resembled a feudal system in Medieval Europe, war with the Spaniards, changes in lifestyle, and mixing with other peoples.

Santa Teresa has the largest economy (according to the U.S. State Department and the World Bank) in the Caribbean and Central American region and is the seventh-largest economy in Latin America. Over the last 25 years, Santa Teresa has had the fastest-growing economy in the Western Hemisphere – with an average real GDP growth rate of 5.3% between 1992 and 2018. GDP growth in 2014 and 2015 reached 7.3 and 7.0%, respectively, the highest in the Western Hemisphere. In the first half of 2016, the Santa Teresan economy grew 7.4% continuing its trend of rapid economic growth. Recent growth has been driven by construction, manufacturing, tourism, and mining. Private consumption has been strong, as a result of low inflation (under 1% on average in 2015), job creation, and a high level of remittances.

Etymology
The name 'Santa Teresa' originates from Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada (Teresa of Ávila), a Spanish noblewoman who felt called to convent life in the Catholic Church.

Pre-European history
Ancient ruins give evidence that aboriginal people (possibilities are either the Mayans or the Aztecs) were the first inhabitants of the Santa Teresan islands. The native Taíno people later immigrated to mainland Santa Teresa, where they established one big chiefdom which differs to the five chiefdoms from Hispaniola.

The Spaniards arrived in 1492. Initially, after friendly relationships, the Taínos resisted the conquest, led by the Chief Kaneonuskatew. The latter's successes gained his people an autonomous enclave for a time on the island. Within a few years after 1492, the population of Taínos had declined drastically in Hispaniola, due to smallpox, measles, and other diseases that arrived with the Europeans. Most Taínos from Hispaniola immigrated to the nearby Santa Teresa but it was also colonized by the Spaniards in the same year as Hispaniola was.

European colonization
Christopher Columbus arrived on the island on December 15, 1492 (ten days after Columbus arrived at the island of Hispaniola), during the first of his four voyages to the Americas. He claimed the land for Spain and named it Pequeña España, due to its diverse climate and terrain, which reminded him of the Spanish landscape. On Columbus's return during his second voyage, he established the settlement of Penultimo, while he sent Alonso de Ojeda to search for gold in the region.

It would take 303 years for the French to colonize Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa fell into France's hands in 1795, and it would be under French control for five years until it was reconquested by Spain in 1800. In the second Spanish occupation, Santa Teresa saw the beginning of the 'Resistance for Independence', a series of peaceful protest in demand of Santa Teresan independence. The oppression of the Spaniards led to the 'Independence War' between 1805 and 1810, the war was highly successful and Santa Teresa declared independence as the 'Federal State of Santa Teresa'.

Independence and final occupation
The country declared it's independence in 1810 as the 'Federal State of Santa Teresa', accepting the federal system under a republican form of government. During it's first republican government, the country was experiencing rapid economic growth. The 1844 constitution was Santa Teresa's final constitution before it was occupied by the United States. American troops arrived in the United States in 1916 when Santa Teresa's federal government was in a crisis.

Contemporary era
After the U.S. occupation concluded in 1930, Carina Tamara Fernández was elected as the country's first female President. During her term, the country was experiencing the 'Tropical Miracle' where it was experiencing it's best rapid economic growth, and corruption was almost non-existant. When Fernández decided to not run for a second term, she made her brother - Felipe Cirino Fernández - her right-hand man. Felipe won a landslide in the 1933 elections, promising to keep the policies his sister implemented. The country was experiencing rapid economic growth but Felipe's control brang the country into totalitarian rule. With the series of fraudulent presidential elections, a coup d'etat was held in 1957 led by Carina Tamara Fernández. The coup d'etat was successful, with CTF brought into power for a second and final term in office.

Geography
Santa Teresa is an archipelago of islands located in the southwestern Caribbean Sea. It has a total area of 97,341 square kilometers (37,583 sq mi).

Climate
Santa Teresa has a tropical rainforest climate in the coastal and lowland areas. Due to its diverse topography, Santa Teresa's climate shows considerable variation over short distances and is the most varied of all the Antilles. The annual average temperature is 25 °C (77 °F). At higher elevations the temperature averages 18 °C (64.4 °F) while near sea level the average temperature is 28 °C (82.4 °F). Low temperatures of 0 °C (32 °F) are possible in the mountains while high temperatures of 40 °C (104 °F) are possible in protected valleys.

Government
Santa Teresa is organized as a federation whose government is representative, democratic and republican based on a presidential system according to the 1997 Constitution. The constitution establishes three levels of government: the federal Union, the provincial governments and the municipal governments. According to the constitution, all constituent states of the federation must have a republican form of government composed of three branches: the executive, represented by a governor and an appointed cabinet, the legislative branch constituted by a unicameral congress and the judiciary, which will include a provincial Supreme Court of Justice. They also have their own civil and judicial codes. The unicameral Santa Teresan parliament is the Asamblea Nacional ("National Assembly"). The number of members is variable – each state and the Federal District elect three representatives plus the result of dividing the state population by 1.1% of the total population of the country.

The President of the Federative Republic of Santa Teresa is elected by a vote, with direct and universal suffrage, and is both head of state and head of government. The term of office is four years, with a possibility of re-election for a second and final term. The president appoints the vice president and decides the size and composition of the cabinet and makes appointments to it with the involvement of the legislature. The president can ask the legislature to reconsider portions of laws he finds objectionable, but a simple parliamentary majority can override these objections.

Politics
Three parties have historically been the dominant parties in Santa Teresan politics: the United Democratic Coalition (CDU; Coalición Democrática Unida), the left-wing party and member of the Progressive Alliance that was founded in 1944; the Conservative Party (PCST; Partido Conservador de Santa Teresa), the conservative party founded in 1949 and belonging to the Christian Democrat Organization of America; and the Social Liberal Party (PSL; Partido Social Liberal), a centre-left liberal social democratic party founded in 1980.