Barahona Province

Coordinates: 18°12′0″N 71°06′0″W / 18.20000°N 71.10000°W / 18.20000; -71.10000
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Barahona
Barahona Dominican Republic town municipal building.
Barahona Dominican Republic town municipal building.
Official seal of Barahona
Location of the Barahona Province
Location of the Barahona Province
Coordinates: 18°12′0″N 71°06′0″W / 18.20000°N 71.10000°W / 18.20000; -71.10000
CountryDominican Republic
Province since1881
CapitalSanta Cruz de Barahona
Area
 • Total1,739.38 km2 (671.58 sq mi)
Population
 (2014)[1]
 • Total232,818
 • Density130/km2 (350/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC-4 (EST)
Area code1-809 1-829 1-849
ISO 3166 codeDO-04

Barahona is a Dominican province. It is in the southwestern part of the country. Its capital city is Santa Cruz de Barahona.

It was created as a Maritime District, an old category given to some regions along the coast, on 12 September 1881. The Dominican Constitution of 1907 changed the Maritime Districts to provinces.[2]

Name[change | change source]

The province takes the name from its capital city, Santa Cruz de Barahona. Barahona is a Spanish last name, and it seems that a Spanish colonist with that name lived in the area.[3]

Location[change | change source]

Barahona is bordered to the northwest by the province of Baoruco, to the northeast by Azua, to the west by the Independencia province. The Pedernales province is to the southwest and south of Barahona and the Caribbean Sea is to the east.

History[change | change source]

The province was part of the old Azua. It was created as a Maritime District on 12 September 1881 with the municipalities of Santa Cruz de Barahona, Cabral, Duvergé, Enriquillo and Neiba. Its category was changed to province by the Dominican Constitution of 1907.

Two new provinces were created from the original province of Barahona. The Baoruco Province was created in 1943 and then the Pedernales Province in 1957.

Cabral and Enriquillo are municipalities of the province since 1907; later, other municipalities were created: Paraíso in 1974; Vicente Noble in 1978; Las Salinas and Polo in 2001; El Peñón in 2002; Fundación in 2003; and La Ciénaga and Jaquimeyes in 2004.[4]

The municipal districts of the province were created in:[4]

  • 1996 : Canoa
  • 1999 : El Cachón
  • 2001 : Los Patos and Pescadería
  • 2003 : Quita Coraza
  • 2004 : Arroyo Dulce, Fondo Negro, Baoruco and Palo Alto
  • 2006 : La Guázara
  • 2007 : Villa Central

Population[change | change source]

Population Growth
Year Population
1920 48,120
1935 46,130
1950¹ 62,166
1960² 80,030
1970 111,162
1981 141,313
1993 164,835
2002 179,239
2010 187,105
Note 1: Without Baoruco Province
Note 2: Without Pedernales Province

In 2014 (last national census), there were 232,818 people living in the Barahona province, and 156,513 (67.2%) living in towns and cities. The population density was 140.2 persons/km².[1]

Its population represents 2.46% of the total population of the country and the province is ranked as the 14th (out of 31 plus the National District) more populated province.

As of 2016, the total estimated propulation of the province is 188,820 inhabitants.[5]

The largest city of the province is Santa Cruz de Barahona, its head municipality or capital, with a population (in 2010) of 62,054 inhabitants.[1]

Geography[change | change source]

The Barahona province has a total area of 1,660.2 km2 (641.0 sq mi).[1] It has 3.6% of the area of the Dominican Republic and it is ranked as the 12th (out of 31 plus the National District) largest province. The altitude of Santa Cruz de Barahona, provincial capital, is 47 m (154 ft).[6]

There are two important regions in the province: the valley of the Yaque del Sur river, in the north of the province, and the Sierra de Bahoruco ("Bahoruco mountain range"). Because the Sierra de Bahoruco gets to the coast, most of the population lives on the coast or near the river Yaque del Sur; the only town in the mountains is Polo.

The eastern part of Sierra de Neiba is in the northwest of the province and the Sierra Martín García is the limit with the Azua Province, in the northeast.

The valley of the river Yaque del Sur is an important farming centre in the southwest because people here uses the water of the river to grow different crops, mainly plantain and sugar cane. The Rincón lake is in this valley; fishing is an important activity in this lake.

Sea Cliff on Caribbean coast near El Quemaíto, Barahona Province, Dominican Republic.

The Sierra de Bahoruco is in the rest of the province (south, center and west); the part of the Sierra de Bahoruco that is in the province of Barahona is called Bahoruco Oriental (Eastern Bahoruco) because it is different from the rest of the mountain range. While pines are common in the Sierra de Bahoruco, they are not common in Eastern Bahoruco where there are rainforests because those mountains, and the province, have the Caribbean Sea to the east and winds bring a lot of water that falls on the mountains.

The highest mountain in Eastern Bahoruco is Pie de Palo (1,603 m). Other high mountains are Trocha de Pey (1,476 m), La Torre (1,455 m) and Loma Remigio (1,287 m).

The most important river of the province is Yaque del Sur. Other rivers are Nizaíto (23 km long) and Bahoruco (14 km). The river San Rafael is only 3 km long but many persons go there during summer to enjoy its cool waters and part of its water is taken to the city of Barahona.

The climate of the province is a tropical climate, very hot and dry in the valley, but it is cooler on the mountains. In the valley, cacti and other plants of dry regions are common. Rainforests are common in the mountains of the province because it rains a lot in the Bahoruco Oriental.

There are three important roads in the province, and they get to the border with Haiti. One of them goes through the province from north to south and gets to Pedernales after crossing the Sierra de Bahoruco by the coast.

The other two roads get to Jimaní; they go around the Lake Enriquillo, one by the northern side and the other by the southern side of the lake.

Municipalities[change | change source]

There are 11 municipalities and 11 municipal districts (M.D.) in the province.[4] The municipalities and its municipal districts (M.D.) are:

Municipalities of the Barahona province
Municipality (code) Municipal Districts (code) Population
(2010)
Area
(km2)
Density Altitude
(m)
Santa Cruz de Barahona (040101) 62,054 76.1 815.4 47
EL Cachón (040102) 2,046 35.7 57.3 90
La Guázara (040103) 1,892 52.6 36.0 458
Villa Central (040104) 17,627 4.2 4,196.9 7
Santa Cruz de Barahona (040100) 83,619 168.6 496.0
Cabral (040201) 14,823 121.6 121.9 34
Cabral (040200)) 14,823 121.6 121.9
Enriquillo (040301) 10,620 76.3 139.2 67
Arroyo Dulce (040302) 2,544 251.7 10.1 66
Enriquillo (040300) 13,164 328.0 40.1
Paraíso (040401) 11,235 86.1 130.5 51
Los Patos (040402) 4,155 50.1 82.9 1
Paraíso (040400) 15,390 136.2 113.0
Vicente Noble (040501) 11,433 4.9 2,333.3 43
Canoa (040502) 3,978 96.0 41.4 19
Quita Coraza (040503) 2,794 75.4 37.1 106
Fondo Negro (040504) 3,400 70.0 48.6 98
Vicente Noble (040500) 21,605 246.3 87.7
El Peñón (040601) 3,970 41.8 95.0 13
El Peñón (040600) 3,970 41.8 95.0
La Ciénaga (040701) 4,376 48.8 89.7 19
Baoruco (040702) 4,736 68.0 69.6 19
La Ciénaga (040700) 9,112 116.9 77.9
Fundación (040801) 3,414 17.9 190.7 6
Pescadería (040802) 4,628 34.3 134.9 10
Fundación (040800) 8,042 52.2 154.1
Las Salinas (040901) 4,703 126.6 37.1 34
Las Salinas (040900) 4,703 126.6 37.1
Polo (041001) 8,186 206.7 39.6 713
Polo (041000) 8,186 206.7 39.6
Jaquimeyes (041101) 3,530 105.7 33.4 17
Palo Alto (041102) 961 9.5 101.2 16
Jaquimeyes (041100) 4,491 115.3 39.0
Barahona province (040000) 187,105 1,660.2 112.7

Economy[change | change source]

The main economic activity of the province is agriculture; the main products are coffee in the mountains and plantain and sugar cane in the valley of the river Yaque del Sur.

Other important economic activities are industry (sugar and textiles) in Santa Cruz de Barahona and fishing along the Caribbean coast.

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Consejo Nacional de Población y Familia. "Estamaciones y Proyecciones de la Población Dominicana por Regiones, Provincias, Municipios y Distritos Municipales, 2014" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2014-02-02.
  2. Féliz, Werner D. (2004). División Político-Territorial Dominicana 1944-2004 (in Spanish). Santo Domingo: CONAU.
  3. López Reyes, Oscar (1999). Historia del desarrollo de Barahona: Narración e interpretación (in Spanish). Santo Domingo: Mediabyte.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "División Territorial 2015" (in Spanish). Oficina Nacional de Estadística (ONE). October 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  5. "REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA: Población por año calendario, según sexo y grupos quinquenales de edad, 2015-2020" (in Spanish). Oficina Nacional de Estadística (ONE). Archived from the original (XLS) on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  6. "Barahona". Geonames.org. Retrieved 30 September 2016.