Pedernales Province

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**Pedernales Province**
Location
Pedernales in the Dominican Republic
Information
Country	Dominican Republic
Capital city	Pedernales
Establishment date	1957
Area - Total - % of country - Ranked	2,074.53 km² 4.3% 7
Population - Total (2002) - Density	21,207 (32) 10.2 inhab/km² (32)
Time zone	UTC-4
ISO 3166-2:	DO-16
Politics and administration
Members in Congress	1 Senator 2 Deputies
Municipalities Municipal Districts	2 2
Provinces of the Dominican Republic

Pedernales is a Dominican province; it is located in the southwestern part of the country, on the border with Haiti. Its capital city has the same name, Pedernales.

It was created on 16 December 1957. It was a municipality of the Barahona province before being elevated to the category of province.

1 Location
2 Origin of name
3 History
4 Municipalities
5 Population
6 Geography
- 6.1 Climate
7 Economy
8 References

[change] Location

Pedernales is bordered to the north by the province of Independencia, to the northeast by Barahona, to the east and south by the Caribbean Sea. To the west Pedernales borders the Republic of Haiti.

[change] Origin of name

The province was named after the Pedernales River; this river is the southern border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. And the river is named Pedernales because the mineral flint (in Spanish, pedernal) is common in the region.

[change] History

Some native groups lived close to the coast and the Pedernales river before the conquest of the island by European people.^[1] But very few people has lived in the region, for most of its history, because it is a very dry region.

In his second travel to America, Christopher Columbus discovered and named part of the present island, including the Beata and Alto Velo islands.^[2]

Until the 20th century, the only people living here were Haitians and many places have French names. Sometimes, during the Dominican-Haitian War (1844-1856), Haitian soldiers came across this region because there were not Dominican soldiers. The only fight between soldiers of the two countries in the territory of the present province was close to the El Can bay, near the town of Juancho, on 6 January 1856.

Since colonial times, the territory was part of the Azua province until it was changed to the Barahona when this province was created in 1881. The dictator Rafael Trujillo created the Pedernales province in 1957.

[change] Municipalities

Pedernales has a total area of 2,074.53 km².^[3] It has 4.3% of the area of the Dominican Republic and it is ranked as the 7th (out of 31 plus the National District) largest province.

There are two municipalities and two municipal districts in the province.

The municipalities are:

Pedernales, head municipality of the province
Oviedo

The municipal districts are:

[change] Population

In 2002 (last national census), there were 21,207 people living in the Pedernales province, and 14,450 (68.14%) living in towns and cities. The population density was 10.2 persons/km², the lowest in the country.^[4]

[change] Geography

The province is in the Barahona Peninsula. Sierra de Bahoruco ("Bahoruco mountain range") is in the northern half of the province; its highest mountain, and the highest mountain of the province, is Loma del Toro (2,367 m) in the limits with the Independencia province.^[5]

The rest of the province is formed by savannas and plains of limestone rocks. The savannas are close to the coast, as the Sansón Savanna in Oviedo and the Pedernales Savanna around the city of Pedernales.

Several small islands belong to the province. The main islands are Beata and Alto Velo.

The only important river is the Pedernales River, with its tributary Mulito River. The Pedernales River marks the Dominican-Haitian border.

There are several lagoons (lagoon is a small lake close to the sea) with (brackish water. The most important is the Laguna de Oviedo, on the eastern coast and near the town of Oviedo, with an area of 28 km². On the western coast, the most important lagoon is Laguna Salada, with an area of 1.8 km².

[change] Climate

The climate of the province is tropical, hot most of the year, but it is cooler on the mountains. It is very dry in the savannas and plains, with long droughts, but rains are common in the high mountains.

[change] Economy

As in all border provinces in the Dominican Republic, there is little economic development. The trade with Haiti is important, above all in the capital city. On the mountains, coffee and beans are important products. Potato, cabbage and other vegetables are produced in the Sierra de Bahoruco.

Fishing is also an important activity in the province, mainly close to the Beata Island, where lobster, conch and several kind of fishes are caught.

Because of the beautiful beaches of the western coast of the province, like Bahía de las Águilas ("Eagles Bay"), tourism is becoming an important economic activity. There are two of the largest national parks of the country: the Jaragua National Park and the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park.

The development of the province was produced by the mining of bauxite (an aluminium ore) but, since 1984, it has changed to the mining of limestone to send to other countries and for a cement factory.

[change] References

↑ Veloz Maggiolo, Marcio (1972). Arqueología Prehistórica de Santo Domingo (in Spanish). Singapur: McGraw-Hill Far Eastern Publishers, 88.
↑ Las Casas, Bartolomé de (1965). Historia de las Indias (in Spanish). Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
↑ Listado de Códigos de Provincias, Municipio y Distritos Municipales, Oficina Nacional de Estadistica
↑ Censo 2002 de Población y Vivienda, Oficina Nacional de Estadistica
↑ De la Fuente, Santiago (1976). Geografía Dominicana (in Spanish). Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Editora Colegial Quisqueyana.