Bonao

**Bonao** is a municipality which is located in the Monseñor Nouel Province of the Dominican Republic.

## Bonao

### Region

Monseñor Nouel Province
Cibao S

## History

Its name comes from the Taíno chieftain who, upon the Spanish arrival to the Island of Santo Domingo, reigned in the land that bears his name.

### Pre-Columbian era

Being located in the center of the island, the territorial occupation of current-day Monseñor Nouel Province was made late, compared to places located on the coast of the island or in its vicinity.

The first human groups that penetrated the center of the island and, therefore, were in or around the current territory of the province, did so around 1000 BC.

They belonged to the groups called barreroides, which were characterized by being gatherers; that is, they did not practice agriculture.

**Important Dates**
La Salvia-Los Quemados

### Colonial era

• Upon the Spanish arrival, the territory of the Monseñor Nouel Province belonged to the of Maguá Maguá cacicazgo.

• In 1495, Bartolomé Colón, during an exploration journey across the island, ordered the construction of a fortress in Sonador to combat the resistance of the local Taínos commanded by the Nitaíno Bonao , of the Maguá cacicazgo.

It is said that the first fort erected in the place was called Bonao Abajo, La Colonia or La Entrada, which was later occupied by the people of Francisco Roldán. The Indians of Rincon de Yuboa or Bonao Arriba, beaten and pressured by the Spaniards, disappeared from the place rising towards the caves of the Last Heaven, in the Los Capaces jurisdiction.

• In 1497 they were protected in Bonao territory, Francisco de Roldán and 70 rebels, participants in the Roldán Rebellion, against the authority of Colon. The rebellion ended in October 1498. The origins of the town of Bonao are associated precisely with this rebellion, to the extent that some of those who participated in it remained there, when it culminated.

That the town of Bonao was founded during the time of Admiral Cristóbal Colón is quite clear in the following paragraph by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, in his General and Natural History of the Indies:

*"... Don Cristóbal Colon, created and founded ... that first population of the thirty-eight Christians, where he was captain Rodrigo de Arana, which was called Navidada, was the first Catholic town on this island; and then, on the second trip that he came, he founded the city called Isabela, when he was from the other end of the river; because there brought the people of the Isabela the advanced Don Bartolomé Colon, brother of the Almirante saying, as it is said elsewhere. Admiral first the city of the Conception of the Vega, founded the towns of Santiago and Bonao."*

• On December 7, 1508, Bonao was officially granted the category of villa and granted a coat of arms.

The main economic activity of this town was the collection of gold, although its mines were not large. When the gold holdings by the Spaniards on the island were exhausted, two sugar mills were installed in Bonao, according to Bachelor Alonso de Parada in a relationship made to King Carlos V and which appears in the book Santo Domingo in the Manuscripts of Juan Bautista Muñoz transcribed by Roberto Marte:

*"Bonao is land that bears a lot of bread and corn, they have begun to make a quick mold in the two years"*

Later, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, in his aforementioned work, mentions the existence of a single ingenuity, which suggests the disappearance of one. Oviedo says:

*"In the town of Bonao, ten and nine leagues apart from the city of Santo Domingo, there is another good sugar mill, which has the children of Miguel Jover, Catalan, and Sebastián de Fonte, and the heirs of Hernando de Carrión; and it is good estate"*

The sugar production was not a sufficient incentive to maintain the attractiveness of the Spaniards over the town of Bonao. By 1528, it had disappeared along with other villages, according to Mr. Espinosa and Alonso de Suazo, in a relationship with the Council of the Indies. Henceforth, the population of the territory disappeared. In no document of the colonial period where the existing villas are mentioned, Bonao is mentioned. Nor does mention of Bonao Antonio Sánchez Valverde , author of an important study on the colony at the end of the 18th century.

The name of Monsignor Nouel, associated with Bonao, first arose in 1936. On May 25 of that year, the name and monastery of Bonao were changed to Monsignor Nouel, in honor of this former archbishop of Santo Domingo and former president of the Republic. In 1960 the name of Bonao was restored to the town, remaining the municipality with its name of Monsignor Nouel, designation that also was given to the province when it was created in the year 1982 under the government of the then president Salvador Jorge Blanco. In 2006, under the government of President Leonel Fernández Reyna, and at the motion of then Senator Enriquillo Reyes, the municipality was renamed Bonao.

## Geography

Bonao is situated in the North or Cibao region of the Dominican Republic, located at 18.9322° N, 70.4090° W. According to the ONE, this municipality has a total land area of 664.37 square kilometers (256.51 square miles). It is bordered by the city of La Vega on the north, the town of Jima Abajo on the northeast, the Sánchez Ramírez towns of Fantino and Cotuí on the east, the towns of Maimón and Piedra Blanca on the southeast, the town of Rancho Arriba to the south, and the La Vega Province towns of Constanza and Jarabacoa on the west. It has 6 municipal districts; **Bonao**, **Sabana del Puerto**, **Juma Bejucal**, **Arroyo Toro-Masipedro**, **Jayaco**, and **La Salvia-Los Quemados**.

## Economy

The economy of Bonao is basically generated by local businesses, small agricultural producers and by the income generated by the American mining company Nickel (Falcondo), also known as Dominican Falconbridge .

The agricultural production of Bonao is 80% rice and the rest divided into cocoa and coffee. There are also important companies that provide jobs such as: Bonao Industrial, Hanesbrands Dos Rios Textiles, Inc.

The first synthesis gas plant in the country and the Caribbean, a gas producing plant from solid waste such as rice straw, banana peels and other materials, was installed near the headquarters of the Dominican Agrarian Institute in Bonao. This was named in posthumous tribute from the Engineer Quilvio Cabrera , leading promoter of technology in agriculture, and the main promoter of the installation of this plant in the country.

## Heritage

The Bonao Carnival is the most important festival of this town, constituting one of the most fascinating, creative, organized and rich in the whole country, already defined with its own individuality and identity.