Bonao

Bonao is a Dominican city and the head municipality of the Monseñor Nouel province, in the center of the country.

Bonao is the Taíno name of the region where the old city was founded. The city is in the Bonao Valley, at about 85 km to the northwest of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

Population
The municipality had, in , a total population of 76,241: 37,349 men and 38,892 women. The urban population was  of the total population.

History
Christopher Columbus founded in 1494 a small fort in the region known by the Taíno people as Bonao. The fort was built to protect the gold mines around Maimón and other places. But there was not much gold in the region and the fort was soon left without people.

The town was founded again during the early years of the 19th century but at about  to the north of the old place, closer to the River Yuna. The new town had the name Yuna was soon was changed to the old one: Bonao. It was also called El Bonao (English: "The Bonao") but the article "El" (English: "The") was left out during the first years of the 20th century and it is never used now.

The new small town was made a Puesto Cantonal (and old category, like a "Military Post") in 1859 and then a municipality of La Vega province in 1865.

In 1936, its name was changed to Monseñor Meriño after the Archbishop Adolfo A. Nouel, past president of the country. In 1960, it got is old name of Bonao.

Geography
Bonao is in the Bonao Valley in the centre of the Dominican Republic. It has a total area of . It has five municipal districts (a municipal district is a subdivision of a municipality); these are Arroyo Toro-Masipedro, Jayaco, Juma Bejucal, La Salvia-Los Quemados and Sabana del Puerto.

The altitude of the city of Bonao is  above sea level.

The municipality of Bonao has the La Vega province to the north and to the west, the Sánchez Ramírez province to the east, the municipality of Maimón to the southeast, the municipality of Piedra Blanc to the south and the province of San José de Ocoa province to the southwest.

The city is near the River Yuna, one of the most important river of the Hispaniola island; the sources of the river are on the eastern side of the Cordillera Central ("Central mountain range"). It flows through the Bonao Valley and then through the Cibao Valley and into the Samaná Bay.

There are other smaller rivers near Bonao, tributaries of the River Yuna.

Climate
Bonao has a tropical wet climate (Köppen-Geiger classification: Af) with no dry or cold season as it is constantly moist (rainfalls during the whole year).

The average amount of rainfall for the year in the city is . The month with the most precipitation on average is May with  of rainfall, followed by October with .

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

Administrative division
The municipality of Bonao has five municipal districts:

Economy
Farming is very important around the city; it is one of main regions of the country where rice is grown.

Mining is also important here; nickel is mined in a mountain close to the city by the Falconbridge, a Canadian company.

References

Settlements in the Dominican Republic
1495 establishments
14th-century establishments in North America