Pedernales Province

**Pedernales** is a Dominican province; it is in the southwestern part of the country, on the border with Haiti. Its capital city has the same name, Pedernales.

It was created on 16 December 1957. It was a municipality of the Barahona province before being elevated to the category of province.

## Name

The province was named after the Pedernales river; this river forms the southern border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. And the river is named Pedernales because the mineral flint () is common in the region.

## History

Some native groups lived close to the coast and the River Pedernales before the conquest of the island by European people. But very few people has lived in the region, for most of its history, because it is a very dry region.

In his second travel to America, Christopher Columbus sighted and named part of the present island, including the Beata and Alto Velo islands, that are part of the province.

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.

## Location

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.

## Population

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.

## Geography

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 .

### Climate

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.

## Municipalities

There are two municipalities and two municipal districts (M.D.) in the province.

|Municipality (code) !! Municipal Districts (code) !! Population <small>(2010)</small> !! Area <small>(km<sup>2</sup>)</small> !! Density !! Altitude <small>(m)</small>||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Pedernales (160101)|14,590|883.8||22||
||José Francisco Peña Gómez (160102)|9,701|237.1||845|
|**Pedernales** (160100)|24,291|1,120.9||||
|Oviedo (160201)|3,544|806.4||33||
||Juancho (160202)|3,752|153.2||12|
|**Oviedo** (160200)|7,296|959.6||||
|**Pedernales** (160000)||2,080.5||||

## Economy

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.

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Pedernales
- **settlement type**: Provinces of the Dominican Republic, Province
- **image skyline**: File:Jaragua National Park (Road2).JPG
- **image caption**: Jaragua National Park in Pedernales, Dominican Republic
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **image map**: File:Pedernales in Dominican Republic.svg
- **map caption**: Location of the Pedernales Province
- **leader title1**: Congress of the Dominican Republic, Congresspersons
- **leader name1**: 1 Senator
2 Deputies
- **government type**: Subdivisions
- **governing body**: 2 Municipality, municipalities
2 List of municipalities of the Dominican Republic#Administration, municipal districts
- **seat**: Pedernales, Dominican Republic, Pedernales
- **seat type**: Capital
- **established title**: Province since
- **established date**: 1957
- **area total km2**: 2074.53
- **population density km2**: auto
- **timezone1**: Atlantic Standard Time Zone, AST
- **utc offset1**: -4
- **blank name**: Area code
- **blank info**: 1-809 1-829 1-849
- **blank1 name**: ISO 3166-2
- **blank1 info**: DO-16
- **blank2 name**: Postal Code
- **blank2 info**: 84000