La Vega, Dominican Republic

La Vega, officially Concepción de la Vega (Real), is the third most populous city and a municipality of the Dominican Republic. It is the provincial capital of the homonymous province. The city is known as the Carnival epicenter of the Dominican Republic for its tradition and culture, its large agricultural production methods throughout its province.
Concepción de la Vega (Real) was the first settlement in its province, having been founded in 1495 by Batholomew Columbus at the foot of a fortress built by his brother, Christopher Columbus in 1494, which was intended to guard the route to the interior gold deposits of the Cibao Valley. This Spanish settlement gradually grew around the fort. The name of the city honors and refers to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which in Spanish is commonly shortened to "Concepción"; and "la Vega" refers to the "plain" in which it is sited. Either the city itself or the antecedent fortress was founded on 8 December, this being the date of the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception. After 1508, when gold was found in quantity there, Concepción became the first gold boomtown in the island. It already had a cathedral, two convents, a hospital, and several administrative buildings. The first coin was minted in La Vega, and the first merchants settled there.
By 1510 it was one of the largest and most important European cities in the hemisphere. The city was destroyed and buried by an earthquake on December 2, 1562, and the survivors moved to the present site on the banks of the Camú River. The second foundation of the city corresponds to its current location and it is believed that it took place between the years 1562 and 1563. In the days of National Independence, the city of La Vega joined the cause of freedom with soldiers. On March 4, 1844, La Vega formalized its declaration in support of the War of Independence, and that same day it became the first town in the country to raise the national flag.
Commerce, agriculture, and industry gained new momentum in the late 1800s and early 1900s. An event that strengthened the area's economic development was the inauguration of the railway between the port of Sánchez and the city of La Vega. The transport by this means of fruits and merchandise led to new living conditions, with settlers arriving from Santo Domingo, Santiago, Moca, and other places. The La Vega region today yields cacao, coffee, tobacco, rice, fruits, and cattle. The first theater in the country was also built in La Vega. In 1915, the city received the name of a cultured city due to its art and culture. In the place of the ruins of the first city, there is an archaeological park and a museum, the Pueblo Viejo National Park. Over the years, a town called Pueblo Viejo emerged in honor of being the first place where the city existed.
La Vega is bounded on the north by the Camú River. This river flows about 100 kilometers before emptying into Yuna River. South of the city is the Cordillera Central, the largest mountain system of the Dominican Republic. El Ponton Field, a local airport, bounds the city on the east. To La Vega's west are the Camú River again and Montellano.
La Vega has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen: Af)
The local industries are based upon cacao, coffee, tobacco, rice, and cattle production. There is also a small but very famous brewery called Cervecería Vegana known for its pilsener-style beers, named Quisqueya and Soberana. There is a factory known for making the famous sausage Induveca.
The shrine of Our Lady of Mercy called Santo Cerro is located in the place where Virgin Mary appeared to Christopher Columbus during a battle.
There is an extension of the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña and there is the Universidad Católica Tecnológica del Cibao. Since 2005 the national and local governments are planning to build an extension of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, but there are some conflicts and the project is behind schedule. This city also has one of the most expensive schools in the country, the famous Colegio Agustiniano, which is the only in the country.
Annually, the famous Feria del Libro de República Dominicana (Dominican Republic Book Fair) takes place in the city of La Vega. In this fair most of the famous books and literary works from Dominicans writers such as Juan Bosch, Joaquín Balaguer, w:es:Federico García Godoy, among others, and international writers such as Gabriela Mistral, Rubén Darío, Gabriel García Márquez, among others, are sold, and some theatrical works are shown to the public. The fair is celebrated each year in the month of September, lasting about one week, and brings to this city all the editors from all around the country, selling many kinds of books, theatrical works, etc.
There are many bus companies which travel between La Vega other cities like: Santo Domingo, Santiago, Samana, Puerto Plata, and others. There is also El Ponton Field, which serves domestics flights.
Each year between the months of October and December a basketball tournament is held in this city, it is called in Spanish Torneo Superior de Baloncesto de La Vega in English Superior Basketball Tournament of La Vega, This tournament started in October 1994 (after a time of political and cultural crisis between the years 1978 and October 1994). One team is still active, the other ("El Country Team") disappearing.