Baoruco Mountains

The Baoruco Mountains rise above the valleys and southern coast of Hispaniola. Their rugged slopes and forested heights form part of the island’s southwestern mountain country, overlooking the basin of Lake Enriquillo. In the early sixteenth century the mountains sheltered the Taíno leader Enriquillo and his followers during their resistance to Spanish rule.

Beginning in 1519, Enriquillo’s group used the difficult terrain of the Baoruco to resist repeated Spanish expeditions. Their struggle continued for years as colonial authorities tried to subdue them. In 1533 Francisco de Barrionuevo negotiated a lasting formal peace agreement with Enriquillo, bringing the long conflict to an end. The mountain range remains closely associated with one of the earliest sustained Indigenous rebellions against Spanish domination in the Americas.