La Vega, Dominican Republic

History

Christopher Columbus built a small fort near present-day La Vega, in 1494. It was intended to guard the route to the interior gold deposits of the Cibao valley. A Spanish settlement known as Concepción de la Vega gradually grew up around the fort. After 1508, when gold was found in quantity there, Concepción became the first gold boomtown in the continent. By 1510 it was one of the largest and most important European cities in the hemisphere. The town was destroyed and buried by an earthquake on December 2, 1562, and the survivors relocated to the present site on the banks of the Camú River. The site of the ruined town remained largely in farmland until a small portion of the original city was purchased by the Dominican government in the mid-1970s and renamed as National Park of Concepción de La Vega.

Sectors

Economy

The local industries are based upon cacao, coffee, tobacco, rice, and cattle production. There is also a small but very famous brewery called Cervecería Vegana known for its pilsener-style beers, named Quisqueya and Soberana. There is a factory known for making the famous sausage Induveca.

Geography

La Vega is bounded on the north by the Camú River. This river flows about 100 kilometers before emptying into Yuna River. South of the city is the Cordillera Central, the largest mountain system of the Dominican Republic. El Ponton Field, a local airport, bounds the city on the east. To La Vega's west are the Camú River again and Montellano.

Education

There is an extension of the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña and there is the Universidad Católica Tecnológica del Cibao. Since 2005 the national and local governments are planning to build an extension of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, but there are some conflicts and the project is behind schedule. This city also has one of the most expensive schools in the country, the famous Colegio Agustiniano, which is the only in the country.

Private, public, and high schools

Laura vicuña

The Book Fair

Annually, the famous Feria del Libro de República Dominicana (Dominican Republic Book Fair) takes place in the city of La Vega. In this fair most of the famous books and literary works from Dominicans writers such as Juan Bosch, Joaquín Balaguer, w:es:Federico García Godoy, among others, and international writers such as Gabriela Mistral, Rubén Darío, Gabriel García Márquez, among others, are sold, and some theatrical works are shown to the public. The fair is celebrated each year in the month of September, lasting about one week, and brings to this city all the editors from all around the country, selling many kinds of books, theatrical works, etc.

Transportation

There are many bus companies which travel between La Vega other cities like: Santo Domingo, Santiago, Samana, Puerto Plata, and others. There is also El Ponton Field, which serves domestics flights.

Sports

Each year between the months of October and December a basketball tournament is held in this city, it is called in Spanish Torneo Superior de Baloncesto de La Vega in English Superior Basketball Tournament of La Vega, This tournament started on October 1994 (after a time of political and cultural crisis between the years 1978 and October 1994). One team is still active, the other ("El Country Team") disappearing.

Notable people