Santa Cruz del Seibo

Santa Cruz del Seibo, or simply El Seibo, is a Dominican city and the head municipality of the El Seibo province, in the eastern part of the country. El Seibo is also written sometimes as El Seybo.

It is one of the oldest city of the Hispaniola island, founded during colonial times.

Population
The municipality had, in 2010, a total population of 46,285: 24,787 men and 21,498 women. The urban population was  of the total population.

History
The town was founded on 1502 by Juan de Esquivel, a Spanish conquistador; the Spanish governor of the Hispaniola at that time was Nicolás de Ovando. The original name of the town was Santa Cruz de Icayagua, also written as Hicayagua.

Geography
The municipality has a total area of . The city is at  to the northeast of Santo Domingo, at an elevation of .

Santa Cruz del Seibo is near, on the south side, the Cordillera Oriental (in English: "Eastern mountain range". It is located in the northeastern part of the Llano Costero del Caribe (in English, "Caribbean Coastal Plain"), a large prairie with many important savannas.

The city is near the River Soco, one of the most important river of the eastern region of the Hispaniola island.

The municipality of El Seibo has the municipality of the Miches to the north, the La Altagracia province to the east, the La Romana province to the southeast, the San Pedro de Macorís province to the southwest and the Hato Mayor province to the west.

Climate
El Seibo has a tropical monsoonal climate climate (Köppen climate classification : Am), with a dry season and a heavy monsoon the rest of year, no cold season.

The average amount of rainfall for the year in the city is . Most rains fall during the end of summer. The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of rainfall, followed by May with .

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

El Seibo 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 .

Administrative division
The municipality of Comendador has three municipal districts; these are:

+ Municipal districts of Santa Cruz del Seibo Code  Municipal district  Population(2010)  Area(km2)  Density  080102  Pedro Sánchez  4,245  117.1   080103  San Francisco-Vicentillo  4,524  200.3   080104  Santa Lucía  11,742  141.0  

Economy
Cattle raising is the most important activity in the municipality. Sugar cane is also grown here.

 References 

Category:Settlements in the Dominican Republic
Category:1500s establishments in the Spanish Empire