Mao

Mao
—  Municipality  —
Santa Cruz de Mao
Street in Mao
Nickname(s): City of Beautiful Sunsets
Mao
Coordinates: 19°34′N 71°05′W
Country	Dominican Republic
Province	Valverde
Municipal Districts	3
Founded	1875
Municipality since	1882
Area
• Total	409.66 km2 (158.17 sq mi)
Elevation	78 m (256 ft)
Population (2010)
• Total	76,863
• Density	188/km2 (490/sq mi)
• Urban	62,225
	Including populations of its municipal districts
Demonym	Maeño (female, maeña)
Time zone	AST (UTC-4)
• Summer (DST)	AST (UTC-4)
Distance	60 km (37 mi) to Santiago 210 km (130 mi) to Santo Domingo

The Dominican city of Santa Cruz de Mao, or simply Mao, is the head municipality of the Valverde province, on the northwest of the country.

It is the largest city of the Dominican northwest and the centre of the region. Its name, a Taíno word, comes from the River Mao, near the city. Its nickname is Ciudad de los Bellos Atardeceres (English, "City of the Beautiful Sunsets") because there are not mountains to the west of the city and it is common to see a "red" sky during the sunset; it is a very dry region and there are much dust in the air which gives the red color to the sky.

Population

The municipality had, in 2010, a total population of 76,863: 39,640 men and 37,223 women. The urban population was 80.96% of the total population. In this numbers are included the population of the municipal districts that are part the municipality. The population of the city of Mao without those municipal districts was 51,647.

History

For most of its history, the region was called "El Despoblado"; that means a region without any population, because it is a very dry region and agriculture was not possible.

When the governor of the Spanish colony gave the order in 1606 that everybody living on the northern coast had to move inland, some people came to live around the present Mao. They had cows that were raised in hatos; "hato" means a large farm for raising cattle (a ranch). And so "hato" is the name of many places around Mao: Hatico, Hato del Yaque, Hato Nuevo, Hato Viejo, Hato del Medio..

The town of Mao was built close to where the River Mao flows into the River Yaque del Norte. The first Catholic church was build in 1869.

Mao was made a Puesto Cantonal (an old category similar to the present Municipal District under a military government). In 1882, Mao was elevated to the category of municipality and in 1904 its official name was changed to "Valverde" after José Desiderio Valverde, past President of the Dominican Republic. Because the name Mao was known by everybody and Valverde was a new name, people called the city as "Valverde (Mao)", and it is still common to say so.

When the province was created in 1959, Mao was made its head municipality and provincial capital.

Economy

The main economic activity of the province is agriculture; the main products in the municipality are rice, bananas and plantain.