Bohechío is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the San Juan

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) 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 wit ...

. It is located northeast of the km 25 of Azua – San Juan road at a distance of 26.5 km and 43 km from San Juan Province, 205 km from Santo Domingo and 92 km of the Province Azua, nestled between mountains at the foot of the Cordillera Central. It has a land area of 428.33 km².

History

Bohechío the Taino Chief

Bohechío was one of the five head

Cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

s (chiefs) on the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

, governing the Cacicazco or Chiefdom of Jaragua in the south-western region that is now the

Tiburon peninsula The Tiburon Peninsula (french: Péninsule de Tiburon), or The Xaragua Peninsula, simply "the Tiburon" (''le Tiburon''), is a region of Haiti encompassing most of Haiti's southern coast. It starts roughly at the southernmost point of the Haiti-D ...

in modern-day Haiti. Known for being an advocate for the progress and advancement of his people, Bohechío helped in the development and innovation of new agricultural techniques in water irrigation, also expanding on their culture and heritage. In 1496, Bohechío assisted his brother-in-law

Caonabo Caonabo (died 1496) was a Taíno ''cacique'' (chieftain) of Hispaniola at the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival to the island. He was known for his fighting skills and his ferocity. He was married to Anacaona, who was the sister of another ' ...

in the assault on the Spanish fort La Navidad in the neighboring Cacicazco (Chiefdom) of Marien. Caonabo was ultimately killed in battle, prompting Bohechío to prepare for war. When

Bartolome Colon Bartholomew Columbus ( lij, label= Genoese, Bertomê Corombo; pt, Bartolomeu Colombo; es, Bartolomé Colón; it, Bartolomeo Colombo; – 1515) was an Italian explorer from Genoa and the younger brother of Christopher Columbus. Biography Bor ...

arrived in Jaragua territory, he found numerous indigenous warriors armed with bows and arrows, and clearly being outnumbered with little probabilities of survival, Bartolome Colon made the indigenous believe that he had come in peace, wanting to give praise and honor to the Cacique (chief). Batolome and his troops arrived at the main village of Jaragua, where Bohechío had organized a celebration in honor of Colón with song and traditional dance. Upon the celebration coming to an end, Bohechío offered his personal residence to Colón that he may sleep in. There was peace throughout the next years until the chief's death, leaving his sister

Anacaona Anacaona (1474?–1504), or Golden Flower, was a Taíno cacica, or female ''cacique'' (chief), religious expert, poet and composer born in Xaragua. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, Ayiti or Quisqueya to the Taínos (the Spaniar ...

to lead the Chiefdom of Jaragua as its queen.

Formation of the Municipality

Upon the beginning of the Luis Felipe Vidal revolution in 1860 - 1881, the town of Bohechío was populated during a time when people living in rural areas had no fixed place to stay, due to constant migration, raids, and looting, forcing the people to move to more remote and mountainous areas. Among the first new arrival of settlers were the Ladies and Gentlemen, Anastasio and Manuel Piña, María Galván, Rosa Elvira de León, Marcelo Brioso, Orfelina Recio, Rafael and Secuandino Luciano, Celedonio and Alberto Luciano, Lolo Durán, and the Beltre and Adames families. Before the formation of the municipality, the area's first settlers had named a mount in the eastern region "Cocobuí", subsequently naming the main town "Buí". It was not until July 24, 1942, when the name would be changed to "Bohechío" in honor of the

. By 1966, President of the Dominican Republic Joaquin Balaguer submits the order of Municipal District, and in 1974 was officially declared a municipality in the province of San Juan.

Geography

The neighboring towns nearest to Bohechio are Padre Las Casas (6.4 km), Las Yayas de Viajama (20 km), and Guayabal (15.2 km) around where Rio Blanco and Rio Yaque del Sur meet. Rio Yaque del Sur is a vital body of water to the southern region of the Dominican Republic, rising at a height of 2,707 meters in the Cordillera Central's southern range. The river flows 183 kilometers downstream into a river delta in Bahía de Neiba. Its waters are very shallow, only allowing the passage of small rafts, and is a desired location for the planting of sugarcane, rice, beans, peanuts, bananas, plantains and rice.

References

Sources

* – World-Gazetteer.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Bohechio Municipalities of the Dominican Republic Populated places in San Juan Province (Dominican Republic)