Vega Baja () is a town and municipality located on the coast of north central Puerto Rico. It is north of Morovis, east of Manatí, and west of Vega Alta. Vega Baja is spread over 14 barrios. The population of the municipality was 54,414 at the 2020 census. It is part of the San Juan–Caguas–Guaynabo metropolitan statistical area.
Etymology
The name in Spanish means 'lower valley' ( meaning 'upper valley'). Historians believe that the name comes from . is a surname of one of the families involved in the foundation of Vega Baja. It is also believed that the name comes from the region of Spain . Additionally, in Caribbean Spanish, a is also a tobacco plantation.
History
left|thumb|[[Central San Vicente in 1897]]
Evidence of indigenous settlement in Vega Baja date to as far as 2580 BCE. At the time of the Spanish arrival to Puerto Rico during the 16th century, local tribes in the area were led by Sebuco, a cacique or Taíno chief of the region after whom the Cibuco River is named. These small tribes of Taínos were known to settle in the vicinity of the rivers, particularly the Indio and Cibuco River, which although prone to seasonal floods, benefit the agricultural activities of the inhabitants. Taino rock carvings have been found on some of the exposed reefs in the vicinity of the Cibuco River. Among these carvings is one depicting a face and others shaped as fish. They are an indication that these reefs were frequented for spear fishing and perhaps other day-to-day activities. Other places like Carmelita, Maisabel, Cueva Maldita and Paso del Indio are known as archaeological sites where the aborigines established their communities.
Both Vega Baja and neighboring Vega Alta trace their origins to La Vega (also documented as Las Vegas) a short-lived town which gained administrative independence from Manatí in 1760. La Vega was dissolved in 1775, marking the municipal independence of the towns of Vega Alta and Vega Baja, which were former barrios of this town. The establishment of Vega Baja was officially recognized by the Spanish government in October 7, 1776, the feast day of the Virgin of the Rosary. Vega Baja was originally known as Vega-baxa del Naranjal de Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Vega Baja of the Orange Grove of Our Lady of the Rosary).
Vega Baja grew as a regional agricultural center in the 19th century, with its numerous rich crops, particularly orange crops, being described by Spanish documents in 1813. The area was the setting for several slave revolts, particularly in 1848.
Hurricane Maria
On September 20, 2017 Hurricane Maria struck the island of Puerto Rico. With an area of about Vega Baja is a municipality on the north coast with some barrios on the coast and others in more mountainous areas. With an estimated population of 53,674 (2016, Census estimates) when Hurricane Maria struck, 48.5% were below poverty and 21.8% were people over the age of 60. The hurricane triggered numerous landslides in the municipality.
Rivers were breached causing flooding of low-lying areas, and infrastructure including homes were destroyed. A tributary of the Cibuco River rose immediately putting 100 people's lives at risk. Many of those residents took refuge on roofs or sought out small boats to navigate the flooded waters and to help remove people who were trapped on roofs or inside residences. Then municipal staff picked people up in buses and took them to the shelter at the Lino Padrón School, where the electric generator nor school cistern worked. Telecommunications systems were destroyed causing state and municipal rescue officers to have to rely on radio communication signals, which were limited to a radius of a few miles. Radio signals did not reach Vega Baja and news, such as the fact that a curfew had been declared, only spread by word of mouth. The mayor, who lost his home, said the storm surge and hurricane winds destroyed most of the structures in Cerro Gordo, a coastal sector. The urban, downtown areas were impassable due to the large number of downed trees and power lines. The Cibuco River rose above PR-2 highway, preventing the passage to the adjoining municipality of Vega Alta and heading west, a stretch could be covered with extreme difficulty, until it was also blocked with the rising of the Río Grande de Manatí. The mayor stated, “We don't know what happened on the mountain. We have not been able to get there yet,” and “The destruction is so great. I don't know how to explain seeing the despair of a mother or an elderly person right now. It is not easy what we are living.”
Geography
thumb|Tidepools on a beach in Vega Baja|leftthumb|Barrios of Vega Baja|left
Vega Baja is located on the northern coast. The municipality is located along the Northern Karst region of Puerto Rico, and the town is located on the Northern Plains.
Barrios
Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Vega Baja is subdivided into barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located in a barrio called (barrio-pueblo on the US Census).
- Algarrobo
- Almirante Norte
- Almirante Sur
- Cabo Caribe
- Ceiba
- Cibuco
- Puerto Nuevo
- Pugnado Adentro
- Pugnado Afuera
- Quebrada Arenas
- Río Abajo
- Río Arriba
- Pueblo
- Yeguada
Sectors
Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions) and subbarrios, are further subdivided into smaller areas called (sectors in English). The types of sectores may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others.
Special Communities
(Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of social exclusion. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Vega Baja: Alto de Cuba, Callejón Pérez and Sector El Hoyo in Barrio Algarrobo, Guarico Viejo, and La Trocha-Río Abajo.