Salcedo, Dominican Republic

Salcedo is the capital city of the Hermanas Mirabal Province in the Dominican Republic. It is the birthplace of the Dominican heroines, the Mirabal sisters, who died in the struggle against the dictator Rafael Trujillo. A museum in the town commemorates three of the sisters; it was tended to by the remaining sister, Bélgica Mirabal, until her death on February 1, 2014.
The city is named after Francisco Antonio Salcedo who fought in the northwestern part of the country against the Haitian army during the Dominican-Haitian War after the Dominican independence from Haiti in 1844.

Geography

Salcedo is located in the Cibao Valley, south of the Cordillera Septentrional. It has a total area of 432.95 km². It has only one municipal district : Jamao Afuera.

History

In the place where is now the city of Salcedo there was a very small town with the name of Juana Núñez. It was made a Puesto cantonal in 1880 as part of the old La Vega province.
With the creation of the Espaillat province in 1885, Juana Núñez was made part of this new province. In 1891, its name was changed from Juana Núñez to the present one, Salcedo.
Salcedo was made a municipality in 1905 and, when the Salcedo Province was created in 1952, the city became the head municipality of the new province.

Economy

Farming is the only economic activity in the municipality, except for some very small industries; the main products are plantain, cassava and cacao.

Sister cities

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Interesting facts

The city became widely known outside of the Dominican Republic due to the YouTube video with an unusual request from the listener of a local radio station to play a song with the words "Esas son Reebok o son Nike". The song in reference was actually Corona's "The Rhythm of the Night".