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 Barahona became a province in 1881. The province of Pedernales was created in 1957 with the municipalities of Pedernales, its capital, and Oviedo.
Juancho became a municipal district in 1998 and José Francisco Peña Gómez Oviedo in 2005.
The Pedernales province is in the southwest of the country. It is bordered to the north by the province of Independencia, to the northeast by Barahona, to the east, south and west by the Caribbean Sea. To the west Pedernales borders the Republic of Haiti.
In (last national census), there were people living in the Pedernales province, and 20,345 () living in towns and cities. The population density was persons/km².
Its population represents of the total population of the country and the province is ranked as the 32nd (out of 31 plus the National District) more populated province, the province with fewest people living in it and with the lowest population density.
, the total estimated propulation of the province is 33,755 inhabitants.
The largest city of the province is Pedernales, its head municipality or capital, with an urban population (in ) of 13,077 inhabitants.
The Pedernales province has a total area of . It has of the area of the Dominican Republic and it is ranked as the 7th (out of 31 plus the National District) largest province.
The province is in the Barahona Peninsula. The "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", above sea level, in the limits with the Independencia province.
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 altitude of Pedernales, provincial capital, is above sea level.
The only important river is the Pedernales river, with its tributary Mulito. The Pedernales river marks the Dominican-Haitian border.
There are several lagoons (a 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 . On the western coast, the most important lagoon is "Laguna Salada", with an area of .
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.
There are two municipalities and two municipal districts (M.D.) in the province.
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.
Wolfenstein 3D
Wolfenstein 3D is a 1992 first person shooter computer video game. The game was created by id Software. It was released for the PC on May 5, 1992. It was later released for many other systems including Apple computers and Nintendo's SNES console and Game Boy Advance handheld system. "Wolfenstein 3D" was one of the first first person shooter games. It is said to have created much of the popularity in this type of game. The game was based on the 1980s Muse Software computer games "Castle Wolfenstein" and "Beyond Castle Wolfenstein".
In "Wolfenstein 3D", the player controls an American soldier named BJ Blazkowicz. The player is trying to get out of a building controlled by Nazis during World War II. The player must avoid guards and dogs while looking for the way out. Food, medical supplies, ammunition and weapons can be found along the way to help the player.
There are four types of weapons in the game:
Because of the use of Nazi symbols and music in the game, "Wolfenstein 3D" was banned in Germany. This was because it broke German laws. People also complained about the player having to shoot dogs in the game.
Deceiver
Deceiver is the fourth album by American musician Chris Thile, which was released in 2004. The album uses thirty-nine different instruments, which were all played by Thile alone. Some of the instruments played on the album include mandolin, piano, bass guitar, electric guitar, violin, and different types of percussion instruments. In 2005, the album was nominated a Grammy Award, for "Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical" to "Deceiver"'s engineers, Thile and Gary Paczosa.
In an interview from 2007, Chris Thile described what he had in plan for "Deceiver":
All songs on "Deceiver" were written by Chris Thile.
My Trach Massacre
The My Trach Massacre was the murder of many people in My Trach Village, My Thuy Commune, Le Thuy District, Quảng Bình Province, Vietnam. The massacre took place on 29 November 1947 between 2:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Soldiers of the French army killed nearly half of the 320 people who lived in the village. Many of the civilians who were killed were women, old people and children.
Anti-submarine boom net (Sydney Harbour WWII)
The Anti-submarine boom net was used to stop enemy submarines entering Sydney Harbour during World War II. The net went all the way across the harbour from Green Point, Watson's Bay to Georges Head on the other side. The boom was part of the Sydney Harbour defences which also included artillery batteries and patrol boats.
In January 1942, the Australian defence forces began to build the anti-submarine boom net; it was finished in August 1942. For more than three years, entry by boats, ships and ferries into Sydney Harbour was through one of three different gates that were a part of the anti-submarine boom net.
On 31 May 1942, during WWII, three Japanese submarines tried to get into the harbour. The first submarine to try and come in was the M27. Lieutenant Jahai Chuma was the man in charge of this submarine. The M27 followed a Sydney ferry through the gate on its way to Manly, but it got caught in the western end of the net's middle section. Lieutenant Chuma, tried to free his submarine by using a special tool that cuts metal, but this only made things worse. By 8:30pm the watchman for the Maritime Service Board, James Cargill, went to see what was happening. He used a boat to row across to where the submarine was stuck. Very surprised at finding a Japanese submarine, Cargill called naval headquarters with his two way radio. At first the navy did not believe that there was a Japanese Midget submarine caught in the boom net. It took him two hours to get them to believe him.