Dajabón River

The River Dajabón is a river in the northern side of the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic. It is 55 km long and flows to the north into the Manzanillo Bay, Atlantic Ocean.

Name
The Taíno name of the river was Guatapaná but the Spanish people that came to live in the Hispaniola island called it Dajabón after the Taíno name of the region (Dahaboon). Because this river was the border between the two colonies of the island, there were many fights during the 16th and 17th centuries and many people died here; then the French people began to name the river Massacre, written sometimes Masacre in Spanish; massacre means the killing of many people.

Course
The source of the Dajabón is at the Pico de Gallo mountain, on the northern side of the Cordillera Central mountain range. It flows through the Dajabón province and then form part of the limits between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Its mouth is in the Manzanillo Bay, on the Atlantic Ocean.

Its discharge (volume of water which passes through a section of the river per unit of time) is 2.84 cubic metres per second at Don Miguel, a place a few kilometres south of the city of Dajabón.

The city of Dajabón is the most important Dominican city close to the river. It flows also through the city of Loma de Cabrera. The Haitian city of Ouanaminthe is also close to the river.

The most important tributary is the river Capotillo (in Haiti, river Bernard). There is not any important tributary in the lower part.

The river Capotillo is part of the northern border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic until it joins the river Dajabón between the cities of Loma de Cabrera and Dajabón. Then the border follows the course of the river Dajabón.

References

Dajabón