San Juan Province (Dominican Republic)

San Juan is a Dominican province, in the western part of the country. Its capital city is San Juan de la Maguana.

Name
The province is named after its capital city, San Juan de la Maguana. San Juan is short for San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist).

History
Since colonial times, the territory was part of Azua province until the dictator, Rafael Trujillo, made this province in 1938 with the name Benefactor with the municipalities of Las Matas de Farfán y El Cercado. Bohechío was made a municipality in 1974, Vallejuelo in 1978 and Juan de Herrera in 1992.

In 1998, Matayaya became a municipal district; Pedro Corto in 2000; Sabaneta, Arroyo Cano and Yaque in 2004; Carrera de Yeguas, Sabana Alta, El Rosario, Hato del Padre, Guanito, La Jagua, Derrumbadero and Batista in 2005; Las Maguanas-Hato Nuevo, Las Charcas de María Nova, Jinova and Jorjillo in 2006; and Las Zanjas in 2007.

Location
The San Juan province has Santiago Rodríguez and Santiago provinces to the north, Azua province (and a short part of La Vega) to the east, Baoruco province to the south and Elías Piña province to the west.

Population
In  (last national census), there were  people living in the San Juan province, and 139,620 () 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 11th (out of 31 plus the National District) more populated province.

, the total estimated propulation of the province is 226,484 inhabitants.

The largest city of the province is San Juan de la Maguana, its head municipality or capital, with an urban population (in ) of 71,494 inhabitants.

Geography
The San Juan province has a total area of . It has  of the area of the Dominican Republic and it is ranked as the 1st (out of 31 plus the National District) largest province.

The altitude of the provincial capital, San Juan de la Maguana, is  above sea level.

Mountains
The Cordillera Central ("Central mountain chain") is in the northern part of the province, and the Sierra de Neiba runs across the southern half. The area between those two mountain ranges is the San Juan valley, which the Taínos call Maguana, meaning "small valley".

The highest mountain in the province is Pico Duarte, with 3,087 m. It is the highest mountain in the West Indies and is on the border with Santiago province.

Rivers
The main rivers of the province are the San Juan and Yaque del Sur rivers.

Climate
The climate of the province is a tropical climate, hot most of the year, but it is cooler in the mountains.

Municipalities
There are 6 municipalities and 17 municipal districts (M.D.) in the province.

+ Municipalities of the San Juan province Municipality(code)  Municipal Districts (code)  Population(2010)  Area(km2)  Density  Altitude(m)  San Juan de la Maguana (220101)  78,313  248.6    418  Pedro Corto (220102)  6,891  146.3    506  Sabaneta (220103)  5,621  480.4    706  Sabana Alta (220104)  3,241  31.4    368  El Rosario (220105)  7,426  204.9    381  Hato del Padre (220106)  5,811  58.8    470  Guanito (220107)  3,670  83.3    384  La Jagua (220108)  3,855  69.2    592  Las Maguanas-Hato Nuevo (220109)  5,192  72.1    523  Las Charcas de María Nova (220110)  3,166  86.8    545  Las Zanjas (220111)  8,991  246.0    79 San Juan de la Maguana (220100)  132,177  1,728.0     Bohechío (220201)  2,394  1.5    519  Arroyo Cano (220202)  3,109  61.3    625  Yaque (220203)  4,182  343.3    512 Bohechío (220200)  9,685  406.1    El Cercado (220301)  13,611  169.6    825  Derrumbadero (220302)  4,918  62.8    915  Batista (220303)  2,314  45.6    976 El Cercado (220300))  20,843  278.0    Juan de Herrera (220401)  8,235  46.5    514  Jínova (220402)  4,827  46.4    478 Juan de Herrera (220400))  13,062  92.9    Las Matas de Farfán (220501)  34,481  350.3    445  Matayaya (220502)  4,267  115.8    409  Carrera de Yeguas (220503)  5,415  170.9    490 Las Matas de Farfán (220500))  44,163  637.1    Vallejuelo (220601)  9,725  151.5    643  Jorjillo (220602)  2,678  70.2    829 Vallejuelo (220600))  12,403  221.7    San Juan (220000)    3,363.8   

Economy
The main economic activity of the province is farming; the main products are rice, maize, peanut, sorghum and beans.

References

Category:Provinces of the Dominican Republic
Category:1938 establishments in the Dominican Republic