Baoruco Mountain Range

Its name is mentioned for the first time by Bartolomé de las Casas in his "Brief History of the Indies", who takes it from the phonetic sound used by the Taino Indians to describe that region.

The mountain range is a massif of volcanic origin from the Cretaceous period (from 145 to 66 million years ago) and later covered by a layer of calcareous sediment of marine origin, this means that the entire mountain range was once submerged under the sea and in mostly inhabited by corals that left their sediments.

The mountain range is formed by a complex of tectonic faults resulting from the collision of the Caribbean and Atlantic plates, rising and leaving the sea.

Granberry and Vescelius (2004) suggest a Macoris etymology for the name Bahoruco, comparing it with baho-ro-eku 'within the jungle' in the purportedly related Warao language of the Orinoco Delta.

[1] The Sierra de Bahoruco are noted for the blue colored concretions called larimar, which formed in the range's volcanic vesicles.