Bonao
| Bonao | ||
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Coordinates: 18 ° 57 ′ N , 70 ° 25 ′ W Bonao
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| Basic data | ||
| Country | Dominican Republic | |
| province | Monseñor Nouel | |
| City foundation | 1495 | |
| Residents | 125,338 (2010) | |
| City insignia | ||
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| Detailed data | ||
| surface | 664.37 | |
| height | 83 m | |
Bonao is the capital of the Monseñor Nouel Province ( Dominican Republic ). Before the region of the same name became a province of its own, it was part of the province of La Vega .
Toponymy
The name is derived either from a local Tainos cacique or from an indigenous settlement of the same name. The name Monseñor Nouel, on the other hand, came up for the first time in 1936: On May 25 of this year, the commune and the city of Bonao were renamed Monseñor Nouel in honor of the former Archbishop of Santo Domingo and President. In 1960 the city was given its original name again.
history
The city arose near a fort of the same name originally founded by Christopher Columbus .
Pre-Columbian period
Because of its location in the center of the island, the area of the province of Monseñor Nouel was settled relatively late compared to other regions: The first people settled around the year 1000 BC; they belonged to the group of "barreroides" and were collectors, so they did not farm.
Colonial times
When the Spaniards arrived, the region belonged to the Maguá Kazik Empire . The Europeans reached Bonao in 1495 when the Spaniards pushed inland from the north and built a series of forts, one of which was Bonao.
Bonao had a certain relevance in the first years of colonization, as Francisco de Roldán withdrew here with 70 rebels who did not recognize the rule of the Columbus brothers. The beginnings of the city of Bonao go back to this rebellion, as some of the participants stayed here after it ended in October 1498. Bartolomé de Las Casas wrote in his Historia de las Indias : “Avecindáronse algunos en el Bonao y se comenzó allí la villa del Bonao”.
That the city was founded in the time of Columbus is also clearly evident from the following paragraph by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo ( Historia General y Natural de las Indias ):
"[...] Don Cristóbal Colon, fizo e fundó [...] aquella primera población de los treinta e ocho cristianos, donde quedó por capitán Rodrigo de Arana, la cual se llamó la Navidada, fue el primer pueblo católico en esta isla; y después, en el segundo viaje que vino, fundó la ciudad llamada isabela, cuando estuvó del otro cabo deste río; porque allí trajo la gente de la Isabela el adelantado don Bartolomé Colon, hermano del dicho Almirante, como en otras partes está dicho. Fundó asimismo el Almirante primero la ciudad de la Concepción de la Vega, fundó las villas de Sanctiago y del Bonao ".
On December 7th, 1508, Bonao officially received its town charter and its coat of arms. The main economic activity was gold mining, although the local mines were not very large. When gold mining was coming to an end, sugar mills were set up in Bonao, as the Bachiller Alonso de Parada describes in a report to Emperor Charles V (from the book Santo Domingo en los Manuscritos de Juan Bautista Muñoz , transcribed by Roberto Marte):
"El Bonao es tierra que lleva mucho fruto de pan i maíz, hanze comenzado a hacer en el dos ENGIOS quel uno moldra presto".
Later, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo only reports on one sugar mill in his work mentioned above:
“En la villa del Bonao, the new leguas desta ciudad de Santo Domingo, está otro buen ingenio de azúcar, que tienen los hijos de Miguel Jover, catalán, e Sebastián de Fonte, e los herederos de Hernando de Carrión; y es buena hacienda “.
The sugar production was not sufficient to ensure the survival of the city; around 1528 this, like other settlements, disappeared again, as Espinosa y Alonso de Suazo explained in a report to the Consejo de Indias . Bonao is not mentioned again in any of the following reports of the colonial times regarding the local settlements.
Education
There are several elementary and secondary schools in Bonao, both private and public. Bonao also has a center for higher education and a regional branch of the state Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (CURCE-UASD).
City of hydrangeas
The city is known as "Villa de las Hortensias" because the hydrangea is its typical flower.
Economy and technology
The economy now relies on local trade, small farms and the mining company Falcondo Xstrata Níquel, previously known as Falconbridge Dominicana. The agricultural production consists of 80% rice, the rest is split between cocoa and coffee. Concerning. Bonao Industrial and Hanesbrands Dos Rios Textiles, Inc. should also be mentioned.
The country's and the entire Caribbean's first synthetic gas production facility , which produces gas from biowaste such as rice straw, banana peel or other materials, was built near the Instituto Agrario Dominicano branch in Bonao. It was named after the engineer Quilvio Cabrera, a major innovator in agricultural engineering and promoter of this plant.
Important data
1495 : On his exploration tour of the island from north to south, Columbus orders the construction of a fort to protect against the resistance of the Tainos under the Nitaino Bonao.
1497 : Participants in the Roldán rebellion entrench themselves in the Bonao area. The rebellion ends in October 1498.
1508 : On December 7th, Bonao receives city rights and its city arms. However, like many others, the settlement will disappear again over the next 20 years.
1936 : The name of the city is changed to Monseñor Nouel on May 25, according to Law 1104, in honor of the former Archbishop and President of the Republic.
1982 : On October 1st, according to Law No. 27, Monseñor Nouel commune becomes a separate province with the main commune of Bonao.
sons and daughters of the town
- Héctor Acosta (* 1967), singer and composer
supporting documents
literature
- Ankenbauer, Norbert: “that I wanted to experience Meer Newer Dyng”. The language of the new in the Paesi novamente retrovati (Vicenza, 1507) and in its German translation (Nuremberg, 1508) . Berlin 2010.
Web links
- Ankenbauer, Norbert (Ed.): Paesi novamente retrovati - Newe unbekanthe landed. A digital edition of early discovery reports . Wolfenbüttel: Editiones Electronicae Guelferbytanae 2016 [work in progress] online .
- Oficina Nacional de Estadística: Censo 2010. Retrieved January 19, 2016.