Moca, Dominican Republic

The Dominican city of **Moca** is the head municipality of the Espaillat province.

It is in the Cibao Valley, south of the _Cordillera Septentrional_ (English: _Northern mountain range_), in the southern part of the province.

## History

People began to live in Moca during the first years of the 18th century, when the eastern part of the Hispaniola was the Spanish colony of "Santo Domingo".

After the Haitian independence, Jean Jacques Dessalines tried to get the eastern part of the island, that had been given by Spain to France. He tried for three weeks but could not take the city of Santo Domingo and so he came back to Haiti.

Those troops that went back to north Haiti, on 3 April 1805, kill all the inhabitants of Moca, except two persons, and burned completely the town.

## Population

The municipality had, in 2010, a total population of 94,981: 47,569 men and 47,569 women. The urban population was  of the total population.

## Geography

Moca has a total area of  and Is at an elevation of . The city is at  to the north of Santo Domingo, on the western end of the _Yuna Valley_, the eastern part of the larger _Cibao_ valley.

The municipality is on flat land with small hills to the west and low mountains to the north; these mountains are part of the _Cordillera Septentrional_ and its highest mountain in the municipality, and in the province, is _Loma El Mogote_ (),  high.

The municipality of Moca has the municipality of Jamao al Norte to the north, the Hermanas Mirabal province to the east, the La Vega province to the south, the Santiago province to the west and the Puerto Plata province to the northwest.

### Climate

Moca has a tropical wet climate (Köppen climate classification : **Af**) with no dry or cold season as it is constantly moist.

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 October with .

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

Moca is in a warm 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

## Administrative division

The municipality of Moca has eight municipal districts:

|Code|Municipal district|Population <small>(2010)</small>|
| --- | --- | --- |
|090102|José Contreras|4,498|
|090103|San Víctor|21,009|
|090104|Juan López|14,777|
|090105|Las Lagunas|15,241|
|090106|Canca la Reyna|10,998|
|090107|El Higüerito|9,673|
|090108|Monte de la Jagua|5,810|
|090109|La Ortega|2,842|

## Economy

The main economic activity of the province is agriculture and the main products are plantain, cassava, coffee and cacao.

Poultry raising, for both eggs and meat is also very important. Pigs are also raised in this municipality.

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Moca
- **pushpin map**: Dominican Republic
- **pushpin relief**: 1
- **image skyline**: IglesiaSagradoCorazondeJesusMoca.jpg
- **image caption**: Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Church
- **image seal**: File:Coat of Arms of the city of Moca, DR.jpg
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision type1**: Provinces of the Dominican Republic, Province
- **subdivision name1**: Espaillat Province, Espaillat
- **established title**: Founded
- **established title2**: Municipality since
- **established date2**: 1822
- **area total km2**: 239.36
- **elevation m**: 183
- **population total**: 173442
- **population as of**: 2012
- **total type**: Total
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population blank1 title**: Demonym
- **population blank1**: Mocano(a)
- **blank name**: Distance to
 – Santo Domingo
- **blank info**:
145 km
- **blank1 name**: Municipalities of the Dominican Republic, Municipalities
- **blank1 info**: 8
- **blank2 name**: Köppen climate classification, Climate
- **blank2 info**: Tropical rainforest climate, Af
- **website**: http://am.gob.do/