San Juan de la Maguana

The Dominican city of San Juan de la Maguana, or simply San Juan, is the head municipality of the San Juan province, on the west of the country.

It is the largest city of western Dominican and the centre of the region. It was one of the first European city founded in the Hispaniola island.

Name
The city was named after St. John Baptist; Maguana is the Taíno name meaning "small valley". In the area, there were Taíno people living here before the Spanish invasion.

History
The valley area of San Juan was the seat of Maguana whose leader was Caonabo. Caonabo in aboriginal language means "gran señor de la tierra or Great Lord of the Earth".  Caonabo was the cacique or chief of the Taínos, upon the death of his uncle and became the most important and powerful ruler in Hispaniola at the time. He led the Taíno revolt against the Spanish invaders and was captured and died in a shipwreck while being taken to Spain as a prisoner. A brother of Caonabo and other allied Taíno caciques led the revolt against the Spanish and finally lost the battle in 1495.

San Juan de la Maguana was founded by the Spanish in 1503 by Diego Velázquez, who later went to conquest the island of Cuba, when Nicolás de Ovando was the Spanish governor of the island.

In 1606, those that were living in San Juan de la Maguana were ordered by the Spanish king to move to a place to the northwest of the city of Santo Domingo and the region was left without people for several years.

After the Dominican independence in 1844, there were some battles in this region between the Haitian and Dominican armies. The most important battle was the Santomé Battle on 22 December 1855 in a savanna to the west of the city where the Dominican army won the fight.

Population
The city had, in , a total population of 78,313: 39,631 men and 38,682 women. The urban population was  of the total population.

Geography
San Juan de la Maguana is in the centre of the San Juan Valley, the old Taíno Maguana, with the Cordillera Central ("Central mountain chain") to the north and east, and the Sierra de Neiba to the south. To the west there is a chain of low hills.

The San Juan river is the main river of the region and the city was founded on the left (eastern) side of this river.

San Juan de la Maguana has a total area of (without including its municipal districts), about  of the total area of the province of San Juan. The city is an elevation of  above sea level, and at  to the west of Santo Domingo. It has 10 municipal districts (subdivisions of a municipality);

Climate
San Juan de la Maguana has a tropical wet and dry/savanna climate (Köppen-Geiger classification: Aw) with a pronounced dry season in winter.

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

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

San Juan de la Maguana is in a warm region; the average temperature for the year is . The warmest month, on average, is August with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .

Administrative division
The municipality of San Juan de la Maguana has 10 municipal districts:

Economy
The main economic activity of the province is agriculture and the main crops are rice in the summer, and beans in winter.

References

Settlements in the Dominican Republic
1500s establishments in the Spanish Empire