This article provides a collection of the etymologies of the names of the provinces of the Dominican Republic .
Province Name | Language of origin | Source word | Meaning and notes [1] |
---|---|---|---|
Azua | Taíno | Taíno name which can mean either mountainous or hard to tame | |
Baoruco | Taíno | The name for the Yaque del Sur River | |
Barahona | Spanish | Bara Hona | The theory affirms that the name comes him for that of current, Bahía Honda now called Bahía de Neiba. [2] |
Dajabón | French, Taíno | One of them attributes it to a fish that existed in the river Massacre, called Dajao, which meant river in local Taíno, which, united to the French word "bonne" that signifies good, would have produced the name. [3] | |
Distrito Nacional | Spanish | literally means National District. This district is where the capital is located. | |
Duarte | Spanish | named for Juan Pablo Duarte, 19th-century revolutionary and one of the country's founding fathers. | |
Elías Piña | Spanish | hero of the wars of independence | |
El Seibo | Spanish, Taíno | The name of Seibo, itself due to a tribal leader of race Taíno, that was called Seebo. This Seebo was a species of Sub-Cacique, subject to the dispositions of the Overlord of Higuey: Cayacocha. [4] | |
Espaillat | French | named for Ulises Francisco Espaillat (1823–1878), 19th-century author and president | |
Hato Mayor | Spanish | means greater cattle-raising district | |
Hermanas Mirabal | Spanish | named for the Mirabal Sisters (Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa), martyred for their opposition to Rafael Trujillo. | |
Independencia | Spanish | Literally means Independence, named after multiple wars for independence from Haiti in 1844. | |
La Altagracia | Spanish | Alta Gracia | the brothers Alonso and Antonio de Trejo arrived from Spain in the early 16th century with a painting of Our Lady of La Altagracia. Miracles are attributed to it. Means upper grace |
La Romana | Spanish | the name came after a steelyard balance, used in the sugarcane industry. | |
La Vega | Spanish | named after the star of Vega which was seen in the founding night of the location. [5] | |
María Trinidad Sánchez | Spanish | named after Francisco del Rosario Sánchez’s aunt and a female soldier in the wars of independence | |
Monseñor Nouel | French, Spanish | named for a president of the republic, Monsignor Dr. Adolfo Alejandro Nouel y Bobadilla | |
Monte Cristi | Latin | Monte Christi | The name of Monte Cristi associates to the days in which Christopher Columbus explored those lands. Friday, 4 January 1493 when the discoverer sailed next to the coasts, I remain deeply touched with the visual impression that abandonment in him the slender colony of Nose. He seemed so much to Golgotha where he died crucified the divine one Galilee that exclaimed ¡Mount of Christ! [6] |
Monte Plata | Spanish | Named after the people who migrated to the location that came from Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata. Literally means silver mountain. | |
Pedernales | Spanish | Literally means in Spanish "flints", which is located in the Pedernales River. | |
Peravia | Spanish | Name derives from a corruption of the Spanish surname Pravia, who carried the lady Ana de Pravia, daughter of Francisco Ruiz de Pravia and Beatriz de la Rocha, who lived on a ranch that existed at the beginning of colonial period in the location. | |
Puerto Plata | Spanish | Puerto Plata | Literally means silver port. Named after all the silver that was found in the location by the settlers. |
Samaná | Taíno | Named after what the Taíno tribe called the location, Xamaná. [7] | |
Sánchez Ramírez | Spanish | named for Brigadier Juan Sánchez Ramírez, hero of the battle of Palo Incado (1808). | |
San Cristóbal | Spanish | named after Christopher Columbus. Immortalized as saint in the region in the colonial period. Literally Saint Christopher. | |
San José de Ocoa | Spanish, Taíno | This province takes its name of the Ocoa River that crosses the province of north to south, passing for the capital city. | |
San Juan | Spanish, Taíno | named after San Juan Bautista. It is the first San Juan of the Americas. Nicolas de Ovando named it San Juan de la Maguana. Maguana after the caciquedom wherein the province is located. | |
San Pedro de Macorís | Taíno | Macorís is a native word in the colonial period for "speaker of a foreign language". The land reminded Christopher Columbus of San Pedro de Alcántara. | |
Santiago | Spanish | Its name comes from the name of the city that has always been its capital: Santiago de los Caballeros. Besides, is the first one Santiago of America, that is to say, first city with that name. Named after the same geographic of Santiago de Compostela. | |
Santiago Rodríguez | Spanish | named for one of the founders of the city (founded in 1844) | |
Santo Domingo | Spanish | Santo Domingo | named after the national capital which the province separated from. Literally means Holy Sunday. |
Valverde | Spanish | named for General José Desiderio Valverde, 19th-century president |
The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with Haiti, making Hispaniola one of only two Caribbean islands, along with Saint Martin, that is shared by two sovereign states. The Dominican Republic is the second-largest nation in the Antilles by area at 48,671 square kilometers (18,792 sq mi), and third-largest by population, with approximately 10.7 million people, down from 10.8 million in 2020, of whom approximately 3.3 million live in the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, the capital city. The official language of the country is Spanish.
The Dominican Republic is divided into thirty–one provincias, while the national capital, Santo Domingo, is contained within its own Distrito Nacional.
Baoruco, alternatively spelt Bahoruco, is a province of the Dominican Republic located in the southwest of the country, part of the Enriquillo Region, along with the provinces of Barahona, Independencia and Pedernales. Before 1952 it included what is now Independencia Province.
Barahona is a province of the Dominican Republic. The Barahona Coast is located on the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic approximately three hours drive from Santo Domingo the capital of the Dominican Republic. In 2019, volunteers from Amigos de las Americas visited to facilitate projects within the various municipalities of Barahona.
Duarte is a northeastern province which comprises one of the 32 provinces of the Dominican Republic. It is divided into 7 municipalities and its capital city is San Francisco de Macorís. It is bordered by the provinces of María Trinidad Sánchez and Samaná to the east, Monte Plata and Sánchez Ramírez to the south, La Vega and Hermanas Mirabal to the west and Espaillat to the north. It is named after Juan Pablo Duarte, the founder of the Dominican Republic.
El Seibo, alternatively spelt El Seybo, is a province of the Dominican Republic. Before 1992 it included what is now Hato Mayor province.
Espaillat is one of the 32 provinces of the Dominican Republic. It is divided into 5 municipalities and its capital city is Moca. Located in north-central Dominican Republic (Cibao), it is bordered by the provinces of La Vega to the south, Santiago and Puerto Plata to the west, and María Trinidad Sánchez to the north-east. The province has a coastline to the north with the Atlantic Ocean. It is named for Ulises Francisco Espaillat (1823–1878), the 19th-century author who was briefly President of the Republic in 1876.
Hato Mayor is a province of the Dominican Republic. The province was split from El Seibo in 1984.
Independencia is a province of the Dominican Republic, located in the west, on the border with Haiti. Its capital is Jimani. The province was created in 1948 but was made official in 1950. Before its creation, it was part of the Baoruco Province. The name was given in remembrance of the National Independence of February 27, 1844.
La Altagracia is the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic. Punta Cana is located on the eastern shores of this province. The province was part of the old La Altagracia Province, which split into two, La Altagracia Province and La Romana Province, on February 27, 1961.
La Vega is a province of the Dominican Republic. Until 1992 it included what is now Monseñor Nouel province.
Monte Cristi is a province in the northwest of the Dominican Republic. The capital city is San Fernando de Monte Cristi. The spelling Montecristi is also seen. The Montecristi province is located in the Cibao frontier region, on the north coast of the country and borders the nation of Haiti. The land area of the Montecristi province is 1,924.35 km2. It is divided into six municipalities and four municipal districts.
Puerto Plata is one of the northern provinces of the Dominican Republic. The area has become an increasingly popular tourist attraction since the late 1990s mainly due to its fine beaches. It borders the Septentrional mountain range to the north.
Hermanas Mirabal is a province of the Dominican Republic. It was split from Espaillat Province in 1952 and was originally called Salcedo, the name of its capital city; it is still referred to by this name sometimes.
Samaná is a province of the Dominican Republic in the Samaná Peninsula located in the eastern region. Its capital is Santa Bárbara de Samaná, usually known as Samaná.
San José de Ocoa is a province in the southern region of the Dominican Republic, and also the name of the province's capital city. It was split from Peravia on January 1, 2000. Published statistics and maps generally include this province in the old, larger, Peravia.
San Pedro de Macorís is a province of the Dominican Republic, also the name of its capital city. The city is fairly active due to its proximity to the national capital of Santo Domingo and also its role in the sugar industry. The province is informally known as San Pedro, SPM or Serie 23 for the first two numbers of their Dominican identification or Cedula.
Santiago Rodríguez is a province in the northwest region of the Dominican Republic. It was split from Monte Cristi in 1948. The Santiago Rodríguez province has the Monte Cristi and Valverde provinces to the north, the Santiago province to the east, the San Juan and Elías Piña provinces to the south and the Dajabón province to the west.
Santo Domingo is a province of the Dominican Republic. It was split from the Distrito Nacional on October 16, 2001.
Afro-Dominicans are Dominicans of predominant Black African ancestry. They are a minority in the country representing 7.8% of the Dominican Republic's population according to a census bureau survey in 2022. About 4.0% of the people surveyed claim an Afro-Caribbean immigrant background, while only 0.2% acknowledged Haitian descent. Currently there are many black illegal immigrants from Haiti, who are not included within the Afro-Dominican demographics as they are not legal citizens of the nation.