Elías Piña Province

**Elías Piña** is a Dominican province in the western part of the country, on the border with Haiti. Its capital city is Comendador.

It was created on 1942 as Province San Rafael. In 1965, its name was changed to Province Estrelleta and, finally, in 1972 it got its present name. Before 1942, the area of this province was part of the San Juan province.

## Name
*Elías Piña* was an officer of the Dominican army when the Dominican-Haitian War. He was born in a place near Comendador and died in 1845 in a battle near Bánica.

## Location
Elías Piña has Dajabón to the northwest, Santiago Rodríguez to the northeast, San Juan to the east and the Independencia province to the south. To the west Elías Piña borders the Republic of Haiti.

## History
Few people lived in the territory of Elías Piña during colonial times because it was on the border between two colonies: the French *Saint-Domingue* and the Spanish *Santo Domingo*. After 1844, the region became part of the border between Haiti and Dominican Republic.

The only town founded during the colony was Bánica, in the eastern end of a region of many savannas that was called *Oncéano* by the Spanish; most of Oncéano is now part of the Centre Department of Haiti. Both Comendador and Hondo Valle were military posts on the border after the Dominican independence. The rest of the present province had very few people until the end of the Restoration War in 1865 when families from other parts of the country came to live here.

During the Dominican-Haitian War (1844-1856), Haitian soldiers came across this region; because of that, there were many fights here. The most important fight was La Estrelleta Battle, in a savanna to the east of Comendador.

Since colonial times, the territory was part of the Azua province until it was changed to the *Benefactor* province (now the San Juan province) when this province was created in 1938.

The Elías Piña province was created in 1942 with the municipalities of Elías Piña and Bánica; the new province was named San Rafael and its capital was the city of Elías Piña. In 1965, the name of the province was changed to La Estrelleta and later, in 1972, it was changed to Elías Piña and the capital got its old name of Comendador.

Pedro Santana became a municipality of the province in 1952, El Llano in 1974, Hondo Valle in 1978 and Juan Santiago in 2005.

Its population represents   of the total population of the country and the province is ranked as the 28th (out of 31 plus the National District) more populated province.

, the total estimated propulation of the province is 63,449 inhabitants.

The largest city of the province is Comendador, its head municipality or capital, with an urban population (in 2010) of 12,400 inhabitants.

### Rivers
The main river is the Artibonite that, in some places, marks the Dominican-Haitian border. Other rivers are Macasías, Tocino, Joca and Vallecito, all of them tributaries of the Artibonite river. The Caña river is the most important in the southern part of the province, going from south to north; it is a tributary of the Macasías river.

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

### Municipalities
There are 6 municipalities and 7 municipal districts (M.D.) in the province. The municipalities and its municipal districts (M.D.) are:

## Economy
As in all border provinces in the Dominican Republic, there is little economic development. The trade with Haiti is important, mainly in Comendador. On the mountains, coffee and beans are important products. Potatoes are also produced in the south (Sierra de Neiba).

## Related pages
* Provinces of the Dominican Republic

## References