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:

+ Municipal districts of Moca Code  Municipal district  Population(2010) 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.

References

Category:Settlements in the Dominican Republic
Category:1822 establishments in North America
Category:19th-century establishments in the Spanish West Indies