PROVINCE BAORUCO.
This region of rugged mountains and sere desert drops into a vast geological depression, well below sea level. It borders on a salt lake, Lago Enriquillo, that is three times saltier than the ocean and many times larger than Utah’s Great Salt Lake.
Baoruco has fabulous “balnearios,” swimming holes that form where natural springs bubble up from under the earth, coffee and grape plantations in the mountains, and boasts an important rural museum in the town of Los Ríos.
The Neyba municipality is bordered by the San Juan de la Maguana province to the north, the Independencia province to the south, the Tamayo municipality to the east and the Jaragua municipality and Enriquillo Lake to the west.
History:
Neyba, today the head community of the Bahoruco province, was a "nitainato" (native region) before the discovery and colonization of the Santo Domingo island, which means that its existence comes from aboriginal times. During 1605 and 1606, after the Osorio evictions, Neyba was already a duly organized Villa, in other words, it already existed in the place were it stands today. The name itself, Neyba, comes from the native population. In fact, the name actually corresponded to a much larger territory and thus today there still exist the Neyba Valley and the Neyba Bay.
Even the Yaque del Sur River was formerly called the Neyba River. At the end of the 18th century the eastern part of the island was ceded to France. Neyba was at that time a parish of the Azua Party. In 1801, during Toussaint's government, it became a District of the Ozama Department, then of the South Haitian Department. During the "España Boba" period, from 1810 to 1821, it was again a parish of the Azua Party.
During 1822 and throughout the entire Haitian occupation it kept its condition of Community, ascribed to the Western Haitian Department. In July 1844, after the declaration of National Independence, it became a Community of the Azua Department, one of the five that divided the Republic by decree 314 of the Central Governmental Council. Various communities circumscribed to Neyba at different points in time, including the Barahona, Duvergé and Enriquillo Military Post. In 1881, when Barahona was made in to a maritime district by decree 1,959, the Neyba community became part of this new jurisdiction. Later, through Law 299 of March 18, 1943, Neyba becomes Head Community of the Bahoruco province.
Its residents celebrate March 10 because this was the date on which Trujillo personally announced the decision to the people of Neyba. Throughout its history Neyba liberated many battles to contribute to the consolidation of National Independence. Its lands were the first to fight the Haitian army that wanted to reconquer this territory, in the battle that was called "Bautismo de Sangre" (Baptism of Blood), and whose main hero was General Francisco Sosa, distinguished leader of the Cambronal and Las Marías Battles.
The Tamayo municipality is located in the eastern part of the Neyba Valley, on the western bank of the Yaque del Sur River that separates it from the Vicente Noble municipality (of the Barahona province); it is to the south of San Juan de la Maguana and to the east of the Galvan municipal district.
History:
Before this land was supposedly populated during the 18th century, the territory was occupied by untouched nature, whose fauna and flora caused great admiration in its first settlers that arrived from Cambronal (now Galvan), Jarabacoa, Neyba, Azua and El Cercado.
The newly arrived made their huts and raised cattle in an area they called Hatico, which means small calf shed. The first settlers were hard working and very religious, but few knew how to read and write. Many of the current residents come from these first families. In 1908, the arrival of a great hurricane caused the Yaque del Sur River to flood the Hatico terrain and destroy the town. It is the largest known flood in the area.
Once the floods were over, the town began to repopulate with people from all over the country, mainly San Juan de la Maguana, Las Matas de Farfán, Azua and El Cercado. Haitians also came and worked in agriculture and duck raising. Very few of these became land owners, since they worked under the system of the "media", which consists in lending land to those who work it and then dividing the crops with the actual landowner. The Haitians were later evicted, although some decided to hide for a period of time in order to stay in this place.
The revolution that broke out in 1912 stirred the Dominican Republic with an internal war between the "Bolos" and the "Rabú" (as were popularly known the revolutionary and governmental sides).
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