San José de las Matas

**Sajoma** is a town in the Santiago Province of the Dominican Republic. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation of  ***Sa**n **Jo**sé de las **Ma**tas*.

## San José de las Matas

### Region

 Santiago Province
Cibao N

### Area

1,502.83 km2
(580.25 sq mi)

### Distance to:

Santiago: 45 km (*28 mi.*)
Santo Domingo:
187 km (*116 mi.*)

## History

This town was founded as a result of the Osorio Devastations carried out in the north of the island ordered by Governor Antonio Osorio, in the years **1605-1606**. The inhabitants of Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata when they were crossing the island to found what is now Monte Plata, founded a herd along the confluence of the Ámina and Inoa rivers and named it San José de las Matas.

• On **August 29, 1810**, several personalities of the region asked the government of the island to transfer the population to the vacant lot that existed on the road to Santiago de Los Caballeros, since the floods tormented them, which was approved and carried out the refundación of the town.

• In **1822** the eastern part of the island became dominated by Haiti. San José de las Matas was made a commune in the District of Cibao with the name of *Las Matas de la Sierra*.

• After already achieved its respective Independence, on **July 14, 1844**, the Central Government Board appointed it as commune of the department of Santiago.

• On **June 9, 1845**, San José de las Matas was ratified again to the category of commune the category of commune under Law 40.

• During the Annexation to Spain, the Spanish government dropped from category to Las Matas, turning it into Comandancia de Armas, on **August 24, 1861**. **On March 2, 1865**, after the Restoration, Las Matas once again acquired its status as a commune, by decree of the National Convention.

• San José de las Matas was a kind of natural hospital, because many people from different parts of the country went there to look for health, especially from tuberculosis.

• Horacio Vásquez was the first President of the Republic who established residence in San José de las Matas, so Las Matas became at any time an accidental residence of the Executive Power.

Vásquez ordered the construction of a tuberculosis sanitarium in Las Matas, which was completed in **1929**, but could not offer the services due to the economic crisis that engulfed the world in that year. Vasquez used the sanatorium as a presidential mansion.

When Trujillo assumed power in **1930**, he became interested in that mansion and perfected it to his liking. In **1932** he lived there for six months. It is believed that Trujillo had symptoms of tuberculosis. By decree he declared San José de las Matas the seat of the Executive Power.

• On **December 3, 1932** in that mansion he married Flor de Oro Trujillo, daughter of President Trujillo, with Porfirio Rubirosa, who would later become a world-famous playboy.

Until **1960**, Trujillo remained visiting the municipality and with him government ministers, senators, deputies, diplomats, etc.

• Several fires have devastated the municipality, and in a contradictory and tragic way, this has contributed to its development. On **March 13, 1938** a fire consumed 24 shacks and Trujillo ordered the construction of good quality wooden houses. On **January 23, 1954** another devastating fire, of great proportions, destroyed 103 houses, including the 24 that were built in **1938**. Trujillo this time ordered them to build from masonry.

• On **December 21, 1963**, Manolo Tavárez Justo and several of his companions were murdered in Manaclas, a place where he had interned with his guerrilla front. He delivered in a speech that he knew where "the rugged mountains of Quisqueya" were. He chose San José de las Matas for his patriotic feat.

## Geography

The town of San José de las Matas is located at 19.3373° N, -70.93723° E. According to the ONE, the municipality has a total land area of 1,502.83 square kilometers (580.25 square miles), making it the **largest municipality by land area** in the Dominican Republic. It is bordered by the town of Monción on the northwest, the city of Santiago de Los Caballeros on the northeast, the town of Jánico on the east, the city of La Vega, VE on the southeast, the city of San Juan de la Maguana, JU on the southwest, and the city of San Ignacio de Sabaneta, SR on the west.

It is located on the northern slope of the Central mountain range, in the southern part of the province. It has an area of ​​1,505.9 km², which makes it the municipality with the greatest territorial extension of the country and the province of Santiago, of which it covers 53%.

It includes four Municipal Districts: **El Rubio**, **La Cuesta**, **Las Placetas**, and **San José de las Matas**.

## Tourism

This municipality is where the first Hydroelectric of the country is located, built in the famous *Trujillo Era* in **1940**, in addition to the Hotel La Mansion, where the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo resided at the beginning of his regime. With the recent inauguration of the La Sierra Road Circuit, carried out by the President of the Republic Danilo Medina, San José de las Matas enjoys the significant entry of tourists, who come to see how exuberant and beautiful the place is.

## References

San José de las Matas [1]

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