Alright, this arrived in the mail just the other day and now we have to find a place to put it into play.
I wanted to give a little information about Monte Plata:
It is a province in South Central Dominican Republic and also the name of the capitol city of that Province. It occupies 841 square miles and held about 162,630 people in 1993 (the last figure that I could find.) The main products are rice, cacao,coffee and beans.
Here is a short history that I found:
The Monte Plata municipality was founded in 1605 as a consequence of the repopulations of the Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata ports. These repopulations were carried out during the reign of Phillip III of Spain while Antonio Osorio was governor of the island. Dominican history registers these events as the Osorio Evictions.
Consequently, the name Monte Plata was formed by the first word in Monte Cristi and the second word in Puerto Plata.
The first important public work built in Monte Plata was the major temple for the divine cult and the administration of the sacraments. During the time, the municipality had 87 families according to a census carried out in October of 1606.
Monte Plata took decisive actions in the battles of the Restoration particularly in operations carried out in Sillón de la Viuda, Bermejo, Alto de San Pedro and Maluco. In the latter General Olegario Tenares defeated the valiant Juan Contreras, who commanded the annexation troops.
General Matías Moreno was born in Monte Plata; a rich man of medium instruction, that became a person of greater prestige in the area. Moreno, who held the rank of brigade general, took part in the independent movement and had the honor, along with a group of people from Monte Plata and Boya, to give the shout for the Independence of the Mother Country ("Independencia de la Patria") a day before this was done in the capital, on February 27, 1844.
General Moreno eventually held the highest office in Monte Plata. He died in the Santa Barbara barrio in the capital city on September 10, 1855 and was buried in the church yard of the same name.
Four kilometers away from Monte Plata is the town of Boya, which forms part of this municipality that is distinguished, among other reasons, for sheltering the ashes of the remains of Cacique Enriquillo in the "Nuestra Señora de la Aguasanta" Sanctuary.
In the 1950s the Dominican Party building was built, now the location of the hospital. Later on, the Municipal Palace was built, where various public offices are located.
[This entry was edited by SailorRory & the Winch Wenches on Tuesday, January 02, 2007 at 7:29:39 PM.]