San Cristóbal Province

**San Cristóbal** is a province in the eastern Dominican Republic.

Province

## History

In 1838, the government yielded the mines of Santa Rosa, with 50,000 acres of mine land, to the West Indian Gold Mining Corporation Ltd, having its seat in London. Santa Rosa, a township of San Cristóbal, resembles a bay; located on the banks of the Jayna River, its banks contained gold whose exploitation could generate profits of about thousand pounds (*$1,200 US*) a year.

## About

The Province of San Cristóbal is one of the most touristic provinces in the Dominican Republic because of its important capital city. This capital city is one of the largest cities in the country, it is about 30 km away from the capital city of the country and it is located in a small valley of the Cordillera Central between Nigua River and Nizao River.

## History

Located in the south of the Dominican Republic in the Valdesia region, the San Cristobal province was created in 1932, and named Trujillo province in honor of the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo (1891-1961) whose 31 years in power were considered a of the bloodiest times in the nation's history.

Following Trujillo's assassination in 1961, the province was given the current name of its provincial capital.

## Economy and Tourism

Its economy stands out for its citrus, coffee and onion crops, the free zones of Bajos de Haina, Nigua and Villa Altagracia, and the port activities in Bajos de Haina.

Its main tourist attractions are the beaches of Najayo and Palenque, and the resorts of the Haina and Nizao rivers.

The province also has certain cultural riches such as the Cuevas del Pomier, the Monument to the Constituents and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Consolation.

## Municipalities

**San Cristóbal.** The beginnings of the head municipality of the San Cristobal province dates back to the Spanish colonial era after the founding of the bastion of San Cristóbal, which marked the beginning of the colonization of the island in search of gold. San Cristóbal contributed a lot to the fight for national independence, and it was the Dominican town where the signing of the first Dominican constitution was carried out on November 6, 1844.

**Los Cacaos.** Located in the northwestern part of the province, the Los Cacaos municipality received its name from a giant cocoa bush that was a point of reference for meetings of its inhabitants. Due to the amount of agricultural places it has, its economy is sustained by agriculture, in particular the cultivation of coffee.

**Villa Altagracia.** This municipality, which received its name in honor of the Virgen de la Altagracia in 1936, was an economically prosperous community in the middle of the 20th century due to its cultivation of sugar cane and the installation of the Catarey sugar mill in 1954. After the closure of the mill in 1986, its economy is sustained by the cultivation of oranges and minor fruits, the raising of cattle and pigs, and some small businesses.

**Cambita Garabito.** Located in an intramontane valley of the southeastern slope of the Central Cordillera, Cambita Garabito was granted the category of municipality of San Cristobal in 1989. Although the majority of its population works outside this community, this municipality is one of the largest producers avocado in the world.

**Sabana Grande de Palenque.** Simply known as Palenque, Sabana Grande de Palenque is located in the southern part of the province on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, and was granted municipal status in 1998. The municipality is not one of the most popular destinations for international tourists, but its beaches attract thousands of visitors from nearby communities.

**Yaguate.** This municipality, whose name is derived from the indigenous word *"Yagua"* which means upper part of a plant, was one of the first towns in the San Cristóbal province, known as *Santa Cruz de Yaguate*. Here the first sugar mill in the New World was established, called Ingenio Italia. Currently, its economy benefits from its cultivation of sugar cane and avocado, and income from remittances.

**San Gregorio de Nigua.** The name of the municipality San Gregorio de Nigua is a combination of the indigenous word "Nigua" and the Ingenio San Gregorio. The history of the municipality and the economic and demographic growth of the Valdesia region began in the 16th century as it was here that the first sugar mills in the Americas were established.

**Bajos de Haina.** Known primarily as Haina, Bajos de Haina had one of the fastest growing economies in the Dominican Republic given its refinery and free zone. This municipality is known as the "Dominican Chernobyl" since its population has the highest level of lead contamination in the world that was caused by past industrial operations.

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