Moca, Dominican Republic

The Dominican city of Moca is the head municipality of the Espaillat province.

Moca
Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Church
Seal
Moca
Coordinates: 19°23′N 70°31′W
Country	Dominican Republic
Province	Espaillat
Municipality since	1822
Area
• Total	239.36 km2 (92.42 sq mi)
Elevation	183 m (600 ft)
Population  (2012)
• Total	173,442
• Density	720/km2 (1,900/sq mi)
• Demonym	Mocano(a)
Distance to  – Santo Domingo	145 km
Municipalities	8
Climate	Af
Website	http://am.gob.do/

It is in the Cibao Valley, south of the Cordillera Septentrional (English: Northern mountain range), in the southern part of the province.

History

People began to live in Moca during the first years of the 18th century, when the eastern part of the Hispaniola was the Spanish colony of "Santo Domingo".

After the Haitian independence, Jean Jacques Dessalines tried to get the eastern part of the island, that had been given by Spain to France. He tried for three weeks but could not take the city of Santo Domingo and so he came back to Haiti.

Those troops that went back to north Haiti, on 3 April 1805, kill all the inhabitants of Moca, except two persons, and burned completely the town.

Population

The municipality had, in 2010, a total population of 94,981: 47,569 men and 47,569 women. The urban population was 68.9% of the total population.

Geography

Moca has a total area of 75 km² (29 sq mi) and Is at an elevation of 183 m (600 ft). The city is at 145 km (90 mi) to the north of Santo Domingo, on the western end of the Yuna Valley, the eastern part of the larger Cibao valley.

The municipality is on flat land with small hills to the west and low mountains to the north; these mountains are part of the Cordillera Septentrional and its highest mountain in the municipality, and in the province, is Loma El Mogote (19°29′02″N 70°29′20″W), 970 m (3,180 ft) high.

The municipality of Moca has the municipality of Jamao al Norte to the north, the Hermanas Mirabal province to the east, the La Vega province to the south, the Santiago province to the west and the Puerto Plata province to the northwest.

Climate

Moca has a tropical wet climate (Köppen climate classification : Af) with no dry or cold season as it is constantly moist.

The average amount of rainfall for the year in the city is 1,231.3 mm (48.5 in). The month with the most precipitation on average is May with 159.9 mm (6.3 in) of rainfall, followed by October with 136.7 mm (5.4 in).

The driest season is winter. The month with the least rainfall on average is March with an average of 60.3 mm (2.4 in) and the second is February with 67.6 mm (2.7 in).

Moca is in a warm region; the average temperature for the year is 24.9 °C (76.8 °F). The warmest month, on average, is June with an average temperature of 26.4 °C (79.5 °F). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 23 °C (73.4 °F)

Administrative division

The municipality of Moca has eight municipal districts:

Municipal districts of Moca

Code	Municipal district	Population (2010)
090102	José Contreras	4,498
090103	San Víctor	21,009
090104	Juan López	14,777
090105	Las Lagunas	15,241
090106	Canca la Reyna	10,998
090107	El Higüerito	9,673
090108	Monte de la Jagua	5,810
090109	La Ortega	2,842

Economy

The main economic activity of the province is agriculture and the main products are plantain, cassava, coffee and cacao.

Poultry raising, for both eggs and meat is also very important. Pigs are also raised in this municipality.