Baoruco

Baoruco is the mountain country of southwestern Hispaniola, south of the basin of Lake Enriquillo. Its rugged ridges and wooded valleys were part of the Indigenous region of Jaragua. In the sixteenth century these mountains became a refuge for the Taíno leader Enriquillo and his followers as they resisted Spanish colonial rule.

From 1519 Enriquillo’s people used the difficult terrain to withstand repeated expeditions sent against them. Their resistance continued for more than a decade, despite Spanish efforts to bring it to an end. In 1533 Francisco de Barrionuevo negotiated peace with Enriquillo, whose followers had made their stand in the mountains for so many years. The long struggle made Baoruco a lasting symbol of Indigenous resistance in the early colonial Caribbean.

The later city of Santa Cruz de Barahona lies nearby.