Azua, Dominican Republic

The Dominican city of Azua de Compostela, or simply Azua, is the head municipality of the Azua province, on the south of the country, about  5 km north of the Caribbean coast. It is also called sometimes Compostela de Azua.

Azua is the Taíno name of the region where the old city was founded. In this place, Pedro Gallego (or Pedro Mariscal), a Spanish colonist, developed a farm and he gave it the name of Compostela after Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, nortwestern Spain.

Population 
The municipality had, in 2010, a total population of 91,345: 46,280 men and 45,065 women. The urban population was  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 Azua de Compostela without those municipal districts was 59,319.

History 
The town was founded in 1504 by Diego Velázquez, who later went to conquest the island of Cuba; the Spanish governor of the Hispaniola island at that time was Nicolás de Ovando. The town was in the original region of Azua, where there was a Taíno town and Pedro Gallego had a farm. This place is called now Pueblo Viejo (in English, Old Town), at about 8 km to the soutwest of the modern city.

The first secretary of the town was Hernán Cortés. He lived in Azua from 1504 to 1511, when he left to Cuba and, later, to conquest México.

Several sugar factories were established around the town and pirates came here to get the sugar and other products.

In 1751 there was a strong earthquake that destroyed the old town and a new one was founded on the right (western) side of the River Vía, where the modern city is now.

Because Azua is on the road that goes from the western part of the island to Santo Domingo, the city was destroyed several times during the Dominican-Haitian War (1844-1856). Two important battles (the Azua Battles) were fought in the city; the first was on 19 March 1844 and the second on 1849.

Geography 
The municipality of Azua de Compostela is in a very dry valley (the Azua Valley or Azua Plain) where cacti and other plants of dry regions are common. Farming is possible only with irrigation.

The territory around the city is very flat, with only a few very small hills but there are mountains in the north and northwest of the municipality; those mountains are part of the Cordillera Central mountain range. The only river in the municipality is the Vía, a very small river that flows through the city.

Azua de Compostela is at  to the west of Santo Domingo. The limits of the municipality are Peralta to the north, Estebanía to the east, the Caribbean Sea to the south, Pueblo Viejo to the southwest and Sabana Yegua to the west.

Climate
Azua de Compostela has a subtropical steppe/semi-arid hot climate (Köppen climate classification : BSh).

The average amount of rainfall for the year in the city is . Most rains fall during the end of summer and mainly in fall. The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of rainfall, followed by September with .

The driest season is winter. The month with the least rainfall on average is February with an average of  and the second is January with .

Azua de Compostela  is in a hot region; the average temperature for the year is . The warmest months, on average, are July and August with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of  .

Administrative division

The municipality of Azua de Compostela has eight municipal districts; these are:

References 

Settlements in the Dominican Republic
1504 establishments in the Spanish Empire