La Vega, Dominican Republic

The Dominican city of **Concepción de la Vega**, usually known as **La Vega**, is the head municipality of the La Vega province; it is the largest city in the central part of the country.

The carnival of La Vega, every year during February, is one of the most important carnivals in the country.

## Population

The municipality had, in , a total population of 202,864: 102,077 men and 100,787 women. The urban population was  of the total population.

## History

In 1494, Christopher Columbus built a small fort near what is today known of _La Vega Vieja_ (the "Old La Vega"). Columbus gave the name of _Concepción_ to the fort.

A small town grew around the fort and was known as _Concepción de la Vega_ because it was in the western border of the main valley of the island ("Vega" means valley): the _Cibao Valley_ or _Royal Valley_.

The city was destroyed by a strong earthquake in December of 1562; the town was rebuilt several kilometres to the south of the old one, on the southern side of the Camú river, where the city is now.

## Geography

The municipality of Concepción de la Vega has a total area of . It has three municipal districts (a municipal district is a subdivision of a municipality). These are Río Verde Arriba, El Ranchito and Tavera.

Concepción de la Vega is at  to the northwest of Santo Domingo and at  to the southeast of Santiago. The municipality is in the western side of the Cordillera Central ("Central mountain chain"), in the "Valle de la Vega Real" ("Royal Valley").

The altitude of the city of Concepción de la Vega is  above sea level.

The municipality of Concepción de la Vega has the Espaillat and Hermanas Mirabal provinces to the north, the Duarte province and the municipality of Jima Abajo to the east, the Monseñor Nouel province to the south and the municipality of Jarabacoa and the province of Santiago province to the west.

The Camú river flows along the northern side of the city; that river, one of the most important river of the country, is a left tributary of the Yuna river.

### Climate

La Vega 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 April with .

The driest season is winter. The month with the least rainfall on average is February with an average of  followed by June, , and January, .

La Vega is in a warm 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 La Vega has three municipal districts:

|Code|Municipal district|Population <small>(2010)</small>|
| --- | --- | --- |
|130102|Río Verde Arriba|23,109|
|130103|El Ranchito|9,626|
|130104|Tavera|12,490|

## Economy

The most important economic activity in the province is farming; some important crops are plantain, rice, cacao; some vegetables are grown in the valley of the Camú river. Cattle raising is also important, mainly for milk.

There is also here an important _Free Trade Zone_, a place where there are different companies that made different products to send to other countries and do not pay taxes in the Dominican Republic.

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: La Vega
- **official name**: Concepción de la Vega
- **settlement type**: Municipality
- **image skyline**: La_vega_01.JPG
- **image caption**: La Vega's Cathedral
- **image shield**: Escudo del Municipio Concepción de La Vega.svg
- **pushpin map**: Dominican Republic
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision type1**: Provinces of the Dominican Republic, Province
- **subdivision name1**: La Vega Province, La Vega
- **subdivision type2**: Provinces of the Dominican Republic, Municipal Districts
- **subdivision name2**: 3
- **established title**: Founded
- **established date**: 1494
- **established title2**: Municipality since
- **established date2**:
1844
- **area total km2**: 410.9
- **area urban km2**: 30.71
- **elevation m**: 100
- **population total**: 202864
- **total type**: Total
- **population urban**: 104536
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population demonym**: Vegano (female, vegana)
- **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 Santiago de los Caballeros, Santiago
 to Santo Domingo