Travel Guide Compost Azua

Founded in 1504 by Diego Velásquez, the conqueror of Cuba, the city obtained its coat of arms on December 7, 1508. Hernán Cortez lived there and worked as a notary before leaving to conquer Mexico. The city had the honor of being elevated to the rank of province in 1845. Its destiny was to be destroyed by fire three times. It was Jean-Jacques Dessalines who first wanted it to be burned during the Haitian invasion of 1805. Then, the Haitian leader Charles Herald did it again during his defeat against the Dominican army on March 19, 1844, at the end of the battle of San José. Finally, the Haitian president Faustino Soulouque ordered its destruction by fire after the defeat of El Numero, in 1849.The old port of Azua was used, like that of Santo Domingo, for the export and import of goods; it is from there that in 1798 the remains of Christopher Columbus would have left for their exile in Havana, during the occupation of the country by France. At the entrance to the city, a statue honors the memory of the cacique Enriquillo, the most revered Taino chief, who resisted the Spanish invaders for a long time before dying on September 27, 1535.The local specialty is the goat cheese of Spanish tradition that is consumed with a manioc cake(casabe).The patron saint's day is 8 September, in honour of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios.