COBAHOR Council for the Eastern Bahoruco Dominican Republic

	General information
	Neighboring regions
	Protected areas in the Southwest

General information

This mountain range represents the eastern end of the submerged range that, starting in Central America, goes through Jamaica, the Winds Channel and emerges in Haiti, forming the Massif de la Hotte and Massif de La Selle; this last one, when it crosses to the Dominican Republic, is known as Sierra de Bahoruco. Bahoruco is an arawak name that was used, mainly, to describe the eastern part of the range (the Eastern Bahoruco). Father Bartolomé de la Casas used to write it as Baoruco.

In general, Sierra de Bahoruco is an uninhabited place because it is very inaccessible. In this mountain range there are some mountains higher than 2,000 m. The highest mountain in the Dominican side is Loma del Toro, close to the border with Haiti, with 2,367 m; in Haiti (Massif de La Selle), the highest mountain is Pic de la Selle which, with its 2,680 m, is the highest mountain in this mountain range. The range has an extension of about 70 km in a northwest - southeast direction, with an area of about 2,400 km²; it is within the Independencia, Pedernales and Barahona provinces.

History tells about the inaccessibility of these mountains; first the alzados (rebels) indians with Enriquillo as their leader went over there, then the black slaves with Sebastián Lemba and other leaders, unknown most of them by the History. The rebellious slaves or maroons (cimarrones, in Spanish) took refuge in places called manieles surrounded with palisades.

The manieles of the Neyba and Bahoruco mountains were those that remained longer, not only because they were far away from the city of Santo Domingo but, mostly, because they were the main shelters for the slaves running from the French part of the island (Haiti), where they were more numerous. In El Maniel of Bahoruco there were people until 1868, according to Father Padre Carlos Nouel:

"In this mountains there are still men, partially savages, known with the name vien-vien; name given to them because it is their normal cry..."

Lic. C. Armando Rodríguez, cited by Don Carlos Larrazábal, states:

"Since the insurrection of Enriquillo, the mountains of Bahoruco were always occupied by the indians that did not came back with him to Boyá, after the Pact. There were also many fugitives slaves, who were called marrones by the Spaniards. That it is why an old Bucán of that region was named as Maniel of the maroon negroes"

The geology of Sierra de Bahoruco is a complex set of stratigraphic formations that were set in different geological times, in tune with the emergence of the Hispaniola island. The range consists in a system of cenozoic limestone with a complex structure, faulted and with karstic formations of great magnitude; its Southern border is a geomorphologic transition towards the stepping terraces of the Pedernales Limestone formation which is formed mostly by reef rocks.

One significant geological characteristic is the presence of anticlines and synclines which are geological structures representing the rock strata folding. Anticlines are folds with the shape of a normal arch; meanwhile, synclines are in the shape of inverted arches. In the Sierra, anticlines are the prevalent folds and it is assumed that this unbalance was produced because the compression forces were coming from the western part of the island, through the Sierra itself, and that is why they are more noticeable in the northern and central zones.

Another feature that has had an important role in the topography of this area is that of important karstic sinkholes such as those of Hoyo de Pelempito, Oviedo lagoon and the flatlands of Juancho. The origin of the Limón and del Medio lakes is assumed to be produced by synclines, which have the same names.

Hoyo de Pelempito is a big depression (about 8 km²) that exists in Sierra de Bahoruco. Its bottom is at 348 meters above sea level but the surrounding hills reach to 1,186 m.

From the viewpoint of Economic Geology (Mining), Sierra de Bahoruco has been important since pre-Columbian times. The main exploitation has been bauxite. Bauxite is not a simple mineral, but a mixture of several minerals. Its origin is secondary, being formed under tropical conditions due to the long weathering and leaching of rocks containing aluminous silicates.

The exploration of the deposits of bauxite in Sierra de Bahoruco began in 1942 with geological surveys that located two important zones: Las Mercedes and El Aceitillar. After testing these reserves in 1952, the American company Alcoa Exploration Company started to exploit them but exports (to United States) began in 1959.

In 1983, extraction and exportation were not very attractive for Alcoa so this activities were suspended and later the company renounced to their mining rights.

Ideal Dominicana is now occupying the same installations of the Alcoa; they are mining limestone, close to the premises.

Pectolite (commercially known as Larimar), found in Eastern Bahoruco, was discovered by Father Miguel Domingo Fuertes; he mentioned it in a 1916 letter. In 1974, it was tested to see its possible use as a semi-precious stone, and the results were excellent. The Larimar's deposit is located in Los Chupaderos (Los Checheses), about 10 kilometers to the Southwest of the town of Bahoruco.

The Loma de Sal y Yeso (Salt and Gypsum hill) is located in the Southern Neyba Valley, North to Sierra de Bahoruco. This hill, with an area of about 21 km², goes from Southeast to the Northwest from El Fundo to the Bermesí river, just to the West of Angostura.

There are wide layers of gypsum, salt and argillaceous slate which were deposited horizontally 5 - 10 millions of years ago due to of the evaporation of the stagnant marine water; nowadays, those layers are in a vertical, or almost vertical, position due to a hyperactivity process produced by the low density of salt which moved to the surface in an ascendant movement.

The salt layers were the first ones in being exploited, even in pre-Columbian days, because of the multiple uses of that mineral.

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