# San Juan de la Maguana Refounded (1733)

URL: https://allhistories.com/dominican-republic/timeline/1733-san-juan-de-la-maguana-refounded
Location: San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic
Themes: main-event

San Juan de la Maguana, in the fertile valley that had once been the heart of the Taíno cacicazgo of Maguana, was among the earliest Spanish towns on Hispaniola. It was abandoned during the sixteenth-century decline, and for over a century its region was largely empty apart from cattle herders and wild livestock. The valley's rich pasture and its position on routes towards the French colony made it strategically valuable. In 1733 the town was formally refounded as part of the Crown's efforts to repopulate the colony and secure the south-western approaches against French expansion. New settlers, including families from the Canary Islands, received land, and the town became a centre for cattle ranching and farming near the still undefined frontier with Saint-Domingue. The refounding of San Juan was one of several measures that gradually pushed Spanish settlement back towards the west in the eighteenth century. The town grew into the main urban centre of the south-west and remains the capital of San Juan Province, known for its agriculture and its religious traditions. At this point in the timeline (1733), the King of Spain (second reign) was Philip V (6 September 1724 – 9 July 1746); the Governor and Captain-General of Santo Domingo, President of the Real Audiencia was Alfonso de Castro y Mazo (1732 – 1737).

## Why it matters
Its refounding helped reassert Spanish settlement in the south-west and shaped the later border region.

Ruler at the Time: [Philip V (1724–1746)](https://allhistories.com/dominican-republic/rulers/philip-v-2)

Governor and Captain-General of Santo Domingo, President of the Real Audiencia: Alfonso de Castro y Mazo

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — San Juan de la Maguana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_de_la_Maguana)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — San Juan de la Maguana](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=San+Juan+de+la+Maguana)
- [Wikipedia (Spanish) — San Juan de la Maguana](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_de_la_Maguana)
- [Wikipedia — Devastations, Buccaneers And Two Colonies (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captaincy_General_of_Santo_Domingo)