Jimaní

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Jimaní

Coordinates: 18°29′24″N 71°51′0″W / 18.49000°N 71.85000°W

Country

Dominican Republic

Province

Independencia

Municipality since

1945

Area

• Total

472.5 km² (182.4 sq mi)

Elevation

31 m (102 ft)

Population (2012)

• Total

13,752

• Density

29/km² (75/sq mi)

• Urban

7,155

Distance to
– Santo Domingo

280 km

Municipal Districts

Climate

Jimaní is the capital and the second largest city of the Independencia Province of the Dominican Republic. It serves as one of the two main thoroughfares to Haiti (with Dajabón), with a duty-free open-air marketplace operating on the border with Haiti. The town suffered damages in the flash flood of May 25, 2004, which killed many citizens during the night and washed away hundreds of homes.

The name "Ximani" is of native Taíno origin. Historian Rafael Leonidas Pérez y Pérez in his book "Annotations on the history of Jimaní", says that Ximani was a Cacique of the chieftainship of Xaragua who had control of the town that lied in the middle of the two lakes, Lake Enriquillo and Lake Azuei, as well as the pass that leads to Pic la Selle making it a strategical and important part of the island. The name "Ximaní" is recognized when the Spaniards signed a peace agreement with the natives through Enriquillo at "the Lagoon of Ximaní" in 1536.

Another version claims the name belongs to a French Count (Count of Jimaní). Pérez y Pérez clarifies however that this official, was called "of Jimani" because of him having owned that land, which was awarded to him during the expansion of the French occupation. The historian argues that the french did not occupy the west side of the island, particularly that territory, until the mid 18th century.

By the time of the Dominican War of Independence, Jimani was practically deserted with most of the fighting taking place in Neiba. After the independence of 1844 the earliest inhabitants of Jimaní came from various communities of the southwest, such as Neiba, Duvergé, El Estero, Las Salinas, Azua de Compostela, Santa Cruz de Barahona, and Haitian immigrants from the mountains that married or had common-law marriages with Dominicans, forming families in the most populous neighborhood of the community, known as Jimaní Viejo. By the 1930s Jimaní belonged to Neiba and in 1938 it became part of the commune of La Descubierta, forming a part of the Province of Baoruco.

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Wikipedia