Cotuí

**Cotuí** is a Dominican city and the head municipality of the Sánchez Ramírez province, in the centre of the country.

## Name

_Cotuí_ comes from the word _Cotoi_, the Taíno name of the region where the old city was founded.

## History

The town was founded in 1505 by Rodrigo Mejía de Trujillo, a Spanish conquistador; the Spanish governor of the Hispaniola island at that time was Nicolás de Ovando. It was built near a gold mine in a region called _Cotoi_ (also written _Cotoy_) by the Taíno people.

The old town was near the present town of Maimón and there were important improvements in the town during those first years and its named was changed to _La Mejorada Villa de Cotuí_ ("The Improved City of Cotu") but most people called it _Los Mineros_ ("The Miners").

In 1562 there was a strong earthquake that destroyed the town and other cities in the island. Cotuí was moved to its present place in 1569, close to the river Yuna.

It was made a municipality in 1822 by the Haitian government and it was one of the first municipalities of the country after the Dominican Independence in 1844. In 1952, Cotuí was made the head municipality of the new province of Sánchez Ramírez.

## Population

The municipality had, in , a total population of 64,133: 32,675 men and 31,458 women. The urban population was  of the total population.

## Geography

Cotuí has a total area of , about  of the total area of the province of Sánchez Ramírez. The city is an elevation of , and at  to the north of Santo Domingo.

Cotuí is to the north of the Sierra de Yamasá mountain range, in the Cibao Valley. The city is near the Yuna river, one of the most important river of the Hispaniola island.

The municipality of Cotuí has the Monseñor Nouel province to the west, the Monte Plata province to the south, the municipality of Fantino to the northwest, the municipality of La Mata to the north and the municipality of Cevicos to the west.

### Climate

Cotuí 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 August 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 .

Cotuí is in a hot region; the average temperature for the year is . The warmest month, on average, is June with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .

<div style="width:50%;">

</div>

## Administrative division

The municipality of Cotuí has four municipal districts:
|Code|Municipal district|Population <small>(2010)</small>|
| --- | --- | --- |
|240102|Quita Sueño|3,531|
|240103|Caballero|2,521|
|240104|Comedero Arriba|2,699|
|240105|Platanal|3,670|

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Cotuí
- **settlement type**: Municipality
- **image shield**: Escudo del Municipio Cotuí.jpg
- **pushpin map**: Dominican Republic
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision type1**: Provinces of the Dominican Republic, Province
- **subdivision name1**: Sánchez Ramírez Province, Sánchez Ramírez
- **established title**: Founded
- **established date**: 1505
- **established title2**: Municipality since
- **established date2**:
1844
- **parts type**: Provinces of the Dominican Republic, Municipal Districts
- **parts style**: para
- **p1**: Quita Sueño
- **p2**: Caballero
- **p3**: Comedero Arriba
- **p4**: Platanal
- **area total km2**: 474.6
- **area urban km2**: 8.99
- **elevation m**: 83
- **population total**: 64133
- **total type**: Total
- **population urban**: 45135
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population demonym**: Cotuisano (female, cotuisana)
- **timezone**: Atlantic Standard Time Zone, AST
- **utc offset**: -4
- **timezone dst**: Atlantic Standard Time Zone, AST
- **utc offset dst**: -4
- **blank name sec1**: Distance:
- **blank info sec1**: to Concepción de la Vega, La Vega
 to Santo Domingo