Santiago de los Caballeros

**Santiago de los Caballeros**, or ***Santiago*** for short, is a Dominican city and the head municipality of the Santiago, in the north central region of the country. By its population and economic activity, it is the second-most important city in the country, after Santo Domingo.

## History

Christopher Columbus built a small fort in the summer of 1495, on the northern side of the Yaque del Norte river in a place named "La Emboscada". This is several kilometres to the west of the present city. Columbus named the fort after _Santiago Apóstol_, in English "Saint James"

In 1504, Nicolás de Ovando, governor of the Hispaniola, moved the town to Jacagua  which is now the municipal district of San Francisco de Jacagua. This place was near the mountains and away from the river Yaque del Norte.

An earthquake destroyed the city of Santiago on 2 December 1562. The next year, 1563, the city was rebuilt again on the north side of the river Yaque del Norte but this time more to the east, where it is now. This new town was called _Santiago de los Caballeros_, in English, "Saint James of the Knights" or, better, "Knights of Saint James".

## Population

The city had, in , a total population of 591,985: 288,746 men and 303,239 women. The urban population was  of the total population.

The people from this city are called (demonym) in different ways; _santiaguero_ for males and _santiaguera_ for females. Sometimes _santiagués_ is used for both sexes. _Santiaguense_ (for both sexes) is used to differentiate them from people of other cities with the same name in Spain,  Cuba, Chile, and Argentina.

## Geography

The municipality of Santiago de los Caballeros has a total area of . It has five municipal districts (a municipal district is a subdivision of a municipality). These are Pedro García, Baitoa, La Canela, San Francisco de Jacagua and Hato del Valle.

Santiago de los Caballeros is at  to the northwest of Santo Domingo and at an altitude of  above sea level.

The municipality has the municipalities of Tamboril and Licey al Medio to the east, the La Vega province to the southeast, the municipality of Jánico to the south, the municipality of San José de las Matas to the southwest, the Valverde province to the west, the municipalities of Bisonó and Villa González to the northwest and the province of Puerto Plata to the north.

### Mountains

The _Cordillera Septentrional_ ("Northern mountain range") runs along the northern half of the municipality. The city of Santiago de los Caballeros is on the southern side of those mountains, and even some parts of the city are on the mountains.

There are several small hills in the city; the highest is the _Cerro del Castillo_ ("Castle Hill") in the eastern part of the city; on this hill there is a monument: the "Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración" ( "Monument to the Restoration War Heroes"), commonly named only as the "Monumento".

### Rivers

The river _Yaque del Norte_, the longest of the Dominican Republic, flows along the old southern side of the city. Now, the city is on both sides of the river but most people still lives on the northern (right) side of it. Other rivers are Nibaje and Gurabito but they are very small and tributaries of the Yaque del Norte.

### Climate

The city of Santiago de los Caballeros is in the northeastern part of the _Yaque del Norte Valley_, a very dry and hot region. And so, the climate of the city is a dry tropical climate, hot most of the year (Köppen-Geiger classification: **Aw**). The northern part of the municipality, and part of the city, is on the Cordillera Central mountain range and the climate is cooler and it rains more than in the city itself.

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 November with .

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

Santiago de los Caballeros is in a hot 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 .

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## Administrative division

The municipality of Santiago de los Caballeros has five municipal districts:

|Code|Municipal district|Population <small>(2010)</small>|
| --- | --- | --- |
|250102|Pedro García|4,006|
|250103|Baitoa|11,778|
|250104|La Canela|17,067|
|250105|San Francisco de Jacagua|36,902|
|250106|Hato del Yaque|29,524|

## Economy

Even if farming is still a very important economic activity around the city, Santiago is now a modern city with many industries and companies of different kinds.

## Education

Santiago is home of two universities: _Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra_ (PUCMM) and _Universidad Tecnológica de Santiago_ (UTESA). Other universities present in Santiago are: _Universidad Organización & Método_ (O&M), _Universidad Abierta para Adultos_ (UAPA), _Universidad Nacional Evangélica_ and one regional campus of the state university _Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo_ (UASD).

## Twin cities

The twin cities of Santiago are:

- La Habana (Cuba)
- Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
- San Juan (Puerto Rico)
- Mayagüez, PR (United States)

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Santiago
- **official name**: Santiago de los Caballeros
- **settlement type**: Municipality
- **image skyline**: Monumento2.jpg
- **image caption**: Monument to the Restoration War Heroes
- **image shield**: Escudo del Municipio Santiago de los Caballeros.svg
- **pushpin map**: Dominican Republic
- **pushpin relief**: 1
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: Dominican Republic
- **subdivision type1**: Provinces of the Dominican Republic, Province
- **subdivision name1**: Santiago Province (Dominican Republic), Santiago
- **established title**: Founded
- **established date**: 1495
- **established title2**: Municipality since
- **established date2**: 1844
- **parts type**: Provinces of the Dominican Republic, Municipal Districts
- **parts style**: para
- **p1**: Pedro García
- **p2**: Baitoa
- **p3**: La Canela
- **p4**: Jacagua
- **p5**: Hato del Yaque
- **area total km2**: 165.0
- **elevation m**: 175
- **population total**: 591985
- **population as of**: 2010
- **total type**: Total
- **population urban**: 550753
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population demonym**: Santiaguense
- **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 Santo Domingo