Monseñor Nouel Province

Monseñor Nouel is a province of the Dominican Republic. It is in the central part of the country. Its capital city is Bonao.

The province was created in 1982. It was a municipality of the La Vega province before being elevated to the category of province.

Name
The province was named after Archbishop Adolfo Alejandro Nouel, who was President of the Dominican Republic in 1912-1913.

History
The valley where is the province was named by the Spanish conquistadors as Sabana de Bonao ("Bonao Savanna"; Bonao was the Taíno name of the region.

Bartholomew Columbus, younger brother of Christopher Columbus, founded here a fort in 1495-1497 and Bonao became one of the most important city of the Hispaniola island during the first years of the Spanish colony.

Later, the city was abandoned and was founded again during the Haitian occupation with the name of "Paraje del Yuna". In 1859, it became a military post in the municipality of La Vega. In 1936, it became a municipality of La Vega province under the name of Monseñor Nouel.

The province was created in 1982 with the municipality of Monseñor Nouel and the municipal districts of Piedra Blanca and Maimón. In 2005, the name of the municipality of Monseñor Nouel was changed to Bonao even if the name had been changed since 1960.

In 1982, Maimón became a municipality and in 1991 Piedra Blanca became the third municipality of the province. Villa Sonador became a municipal district in 1999, Sabana del Puerto in 2000, Juan Adrián in 2001, Juma Bejucal in 2004, and Arroyo Toro-Masipedro and Jayaco in 2006.

Location
The Monseñor Nouel province is bordered to the north and the west by the La Vega province, to the east by the Juan Sánchez Ramírez and Monte Plata provinces and to the south by the San Cristóbal and San José de Ocoa provinces.

Population
In (last national census), there were 0 people living in the Monseñor Nouel province, and 112,305 (NaN%) living in towns and cities. The population density was persons/km².

Its population represents NaN% of the total population of the country and the province is ranked as the 17th (out of 31 plus the National District) more populated province.

, the total estimated propulation of the province is 171,040 inhabitants.

The largest city of the province is Bonao, its head municipality or capital, with a population (in ) of 76,241 inhabitants.

Geography
The Monseñor Nouel province has a total area of 992.0 km2. It has 2.1% of the area of the Dominican Republic and it is ranked as the 24th (out of 31 plus the National District) largest province.

The altitude of Bonao, provincial capital, is 176 m above sea level.

The province is mainly in a valley surrounded by mountains: the Cordillera Central ("Central mountain range" by the north, west and south, and by the Sierra de Yamasá ("Yamasá mountain range"), a branch of the Cordillera Central, by the east.

The most important river is the Yuna, one of the largest of the Dominican Republic and of the Hispaniola island.

Climate
The climate of the province is a tropical climate, hot most of the year.

Municipalities
There are three municipalities and seven municipal districts (M.D.) in the province.



Economy
The main economic activities in the province are farming and mining (mainly surface mining of nickel).

It is a province with an important production of rice. Cattle raising is also important, mainly for milk.