Santa Cruz de Barahona

**Barahona,** officially **Santa Cruz de Barahona,** is a city and seat of the southwest Dominican Republic province of Barahona, on the Neiba Bay. It is one of the most important cities on the island, with a port of intense activity and a wide range of ecotourism attractions. It is also a sugar and industrial center. It has a population of more than 130,000 people, which makes this city an important point of the southern region for future projects. It is approximately 181 kilometers (*112 miles*) from Santo Domingo.

## BarahonaSanta Cruz de Barahona

### Region

Enriquillo
Barahona Province

## Etymolygy

The name is due to the surname of the Spanish count named Santa Cruz de Barahona, who stayed in these lands when it was still unpopulated. There is another version that says that the name comes from the union of the two words "Bahia" and "Honda", but the first one has greater credibility.

## History

Before its discovery, the Dominican Republic was a "nitainato" of the chiefdom of Jaragua (Taíno Indian), ruled by Bohechío, who was seated at Port-au-Prince. The construction of the Barahona Valley in the District of Neyba began under the orders of General Toussaint Louverture in **1802**. During that time, it was declared a military post of the Azua commune.

• In **1907**, the territorial denominations of cantons and maritime districts were abolished and replaced by the terms communes and provinces respectively, while Barahona was promoted to this category the same year.

• The revolutionary junta known as "El Salvador" was founded in Barahona by Cuban radicals with the purpose of mobilizing financial resources to support emancipation; who fulfilled their purpose encouraged by the independence (of Spain) movement in Cuba. Even President Ulises Heureaux (Lilis) secretly provided money and weapons to Cuban patriots and continually pointed out that "Spain is my wife, and Cuba my lover," and from the shores of Barahona, arms were taken to Cuba.

• Between **1916** and **1924**, the American presence in the province influenced the sowing of cane and the construction of the hacienda. In **1927**, the first aviation company in the Antilles began. The service was inaugurated between the cities of Barahona, Santa Cruz, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

## Geography

According to the ONE, the city has a total area of 163.02 square kilometers (62.94 square milies). Barahona is bordered by the town of Fundación to the north, the town of La Ciénaga to the south, the town of Polo to the southwest, and the town of Cabral to the west. Barahona is approximately 92 km (*57 miles*) east of the Internatinal Border Line at Jimaní.

## Economy

Currently, Barahona has a mixed economy that combines agriculture, livestock, mining and tourism, with an industrial port and a free zone dedicated to textile production. Among the most important companies in the area are: CEMEX Dominicana that exploits gypsum from a mine, Rica with dairy production, the "Central Sugar Consorcio" with the production of sugar, EGE Haina with the production of electric power, Wilbis Dominicana with zones of free exchange and "Block Khoury" that produces and exports construction materials. Agriculture and the production of sugarcane, bananas, coffee, fruits, sorghum, yam, yautia and others, in the cattle ranch, the fattening of cattle and goats for meat, sale of leather and the growing milk production, in mining the extraction of larimar, marble, plaster, alabaster, kaolin (for the production of bottles), mineral salt and construction materials, are among the main activities of Barahona.

## Architecture

The city has an interesting architectural heritage, represented by a series of buildings of vernacular style, concentrated mainly in the older urban areas. Among the buildings that represent Barahona, we can mention the "Arc de Triomf" that welcomes visitors and was built during the Trujillo era. The cathedral "Nuestra Señora del Rosario", built in 1948, next to the curial house, has a bell that goes beyond the entire building.

The Municipal Palace located in front of the Central Park was built in 1935 and has a tower with a clock, becoming one of the icons of the city.

The old church, built in 1952, was the first church built of block, with beautiful architecture and beautiful green areas. The Guarocuya Hotel was built in 1959, during the Trujillo era and the "Sugar Mill", which construction began in 1918, at the same time as the construction of the neighborhood known as "El Batey", (today Villa Central) where you can still find wooden houses of the people who worked at managerial level, with roofs to two waters, mounted on piles. The correct use of green areas should also be highlighted. The building of the fire brigade was built at the beginning of the 1900s and still contains the same structure as a series of objects from the beginning of the last century.

## Art

The city of Barahona gave birth to two of the most important stars of the entertainment world: María Montez , whose name was immortalized in the international airport of the city; and Casandra Damiron , for whom the Ortogas Cassandras were institutionalized in 1984 by the Association of Arts Critics that recognizes the talent of Dominican artists.

María Montez, actress, was born in 1912 with the name of "María África García Vidal", reaching stardom in Hollywood and in European cinema. He married the French actor Jean Pierre Aumont , with whom he gave birth to a female named Tina Aumont . María Montez worked in both film and theater, and also wrote poetry and songs. He died in Paris in 1951. The other star, Casandra Damiron, was born in 1919 and began acting at the age of six at the La Unión theater in Barahona. In the forties, he began singing in Santo Domingo on the station "La Voz del Yuna" and "La Voz Dominicana". Cassandra made the "merengue" and Dominican music known in Europe, the United States and other Ibero-American countries, accompanied by her group of dancers of folk songs. He died in Santo Domingo in 1983.

In addition to artists in the world of entertainment, Barahona also has an active community of literary artists, plastics, larimar stones, metals, shells, natural fibers, etc .; the latter located mainly in Bahoruco and in the neighborhoods of the coast and in the center.

## Food

Although Barahona is located on the shores of the Caribbean Sea, the consumption of fish and shrimp comes from the river and the freshwater lagoon. From the sea crustaceans are preferred, such as crab, lambi and lobster prepared in lemon, garlic or stewed. Since the banana is the best quality and size of the country, it is the garnish par excellence, whether fried, boiled, Mangú (Puree) and roasted if ripe. The ranch or sancocho (salcocho) of Habichuela, with beef, chicken, goat and pork, the shrimp soup, the fish of the lagoon like the tilapia and the boiled or stewed biejaca, the goat or beef casserole, are the set of dishes preferred by the inhabitants of the region.

## References

*Barahona* [1]

Michael Vedrine