San José de Ocoa, or simply Ocoa, is the capital of

San José de Ocoa province 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 t ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. It is located in a valley in the southern region of the Central Cordillera mountain range.

History

The town was founded in 1805 by people from the southern town of

Baní Baní is a capital town of the Peravia Province, Dominican Republic. It is the commercial and manufacturing center in the southern region of Valdesia. The town is located 65 km south of the capital city Santo Domingo. Baní is the headquart ...

. The Spanish Canarian descendants were the first ethnic group to settle in San José de Ocoa, remaining a significant group in the town. Other families from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

would soon follow. Blacks also would later settle in San José de Ocoa, most of them being Afro-Caribbean

Cocolo ''Cocolo'' is a term used in the Hispanic Caribbean to refer to Afro-Caribbean migrant descendants. The term originated in the Dominican Republic and is historically used to refer to the Anglophone Caribbean immigrants and their descendants and ...

descendants arriving from San Pedro de Macoris. In December 1858, San José de Ocoa was elevated to the category of

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the former province of Santo Domingo; in 1895, it was transferred to the province of Azua. In 1944 when the province of

Peravia Peravia () is a province in the southern region of the Dominican Republic. Located on the country's Caribbean coast which it is in the south, it is divided in 13 units (three municipalities and 10 municipal districts), while Baní is the province ...

was created, San José de Ocoa became a municipality of this province. Finally, the town became the capital municipality of the new province of San José de Ocoa on 6 September 2000.

Geography

San José de Ocoa is located at an altitude of . The municipality covers an area of . It lies on the banks of the

Ocoa River The Ocoa River is a river of the Dominican Republic. See also *List of rivers of the Dominican Republic References * The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000. GEOnet Names Server

Climate

Economy

Agriculture is the dominant sector in the economy of the municipality. The main crops are

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

s and

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es. Other

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

s, such as

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...

and

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild ...

are also grown as well as some

tropical fruit There are many fruits that typically grow in warm tropical climates or equatorial areas. Tropical fruits Varieties of tropical fruit include: * Abiu * Açaí * Acerola (West Indian cherry; Barbados cherry) * Achachairú (Bolivian mangosteen; ...

s (

avocado The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (''Persea americana'') is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was priz ...

and

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

). Other economic activities are trade, carpentry workshops, mechanical and some processing of agricultural products.

Prominent residents of the city

* Rafael Sanchez, better known by the alias of

Jack Veneno Jack Veneno ("Jack the Venom"; born Rafael Antonio Sánchez; May 2, 1942 – April 6, 2021) was a Dominican professional wrestler and politician. Professional wrestling career He became interested in wrestling as a teen, watching the Mexican l ...

, former professional wrestler and current sub-secretary of sports, was born in Ocoa. * Félix Estrella, ex-governor and candidate for senator for the province of San José De Ocoa for the PLD.

References

Populated places in San José de Ocoa Province Municipalities of the Dominican Republic {{DominicanRepublic-geo-stub