The importance of Nigua, formerly called Partido de los Ingenios de Nigua, is confirmed by Oviedo himself when he writes that the first person to make sugar was Gonzalo de Celosa, on the banks of the Nigua River around 1505-1506. For this, he brought masters from the Canary Islands.

Boca de Nigua was built in the 16th century and rebuilt later on, reaching full splendor in the 18th century. At that time its owner was the Marqués de Aranda, a Spanish nobleman. The manager at that time was Juan Bautista Oyarzábal.

The boiler house is a classic model from the 17th century, according to engravings of the time published in 1798, when Santo Domingo was earmarked the place to construct the model.

And this is where the most important struggle for resistance by the enslaved Africans in the Spanish portion of the island took place. On October 30, 1796, over 200 slaves rebelled, forcing the whites to flee killing their cattle. The slaves even took over the buildings in the sugar mill and founded a people´s government headed by slave woman Ana María, who was crowned queen.

The area has witnessed many acts of resistance by Africans against the regime of servitude. Darío Solano, an Africanist from Nigua, states that besides the Boca de Nigua uprising: “Nigua had already witnessed the first black rebellion in the New World, in December 1521, led and carried out by members of the Wolof ethnic group from Senegambia,” and in 1801, Toussaint L’Ouverture, leader of the revolution in Saint Domingue, held a meeting in Boca de Nigua with the purpose of negotiating the formal handing over of the territory to France and holding peaceful talks with the Spanish authorities.

From the very beginning the Boca de Nigua rebellion aimed at abolishing slavery on the Spanish part of the island and setting up a people’s government with the ethnic diversity of the island.

The Boca de Nigua rebellion was put down by means of horrible methods and the punishment imposed on the leaders filled the city with terror. Francisco Sopo, Antonio, Ana María, Tomás Aguirre, Pedro Congo, Papapier, Cristóbal Cesar and Petito Juan were sentenced to be hanged. Their heads were cut off, their bodies were dismembered and the parts nailed in the most public places, on the four corners of the capital city.

Other participants in the rebellion were sentenced to 20, 15 and 10 years imprisonment. Their feet were chained to their necks and they were beaten daily in the pillory.

This rebellion had an impact on the entire island, mainly on many estates in the south. In reference to the rebellion of Boca de Nigua, José Ocariz states “…the rebels created an incipient army, with artillery soldiers, infantry units made up of guards and squads… and a unit of cavalry dragons … a plot aimed at results similar to those of Haiti (Deive, La rebelión de los esclavos de Boca de Nigua. Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos. Separata del Tomo XXVII. Anuario de Estudios Americanos. 1970, Sevilla).

The facilities of this sugar mill were restored in 1976 by engineer Ramón Báez López-Penha. An outstanding work was done in the boiler house, half of it was restored and consolidated and the other half was fully rebuilt. This was one of the most attractive restoration in the country.

Source: Multimedia "Sites of Memory of the Slave Route in the Latin Caribbean" http://www.lacult.unesco.org/sitios_memoria/index.php?uid_ext=&getipr=MTcyLjI0LjEwLjIy&lan=en

Accessibility: It is located 26.6 kilometers from Santo Domingo. The fastest route is to take the 6 de Noviembre highway (approximately 50 minutes). To the east, the Agua Dulce stream and the sections Ingenio Nuevo y Sainaguá; to the north, Arroyo Seco and the Hatillo section, and to the South, the Caribbean Sea.
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