The province is named after Monseñor Dr. Adolfo Alejandro Nouel y Bobadilla (1862-1937), an Archbishop of Santo Domingo who was briefly President of the Republic from 1912 to 1913.

In 1495, Bartolomé Colón, during a voyage of exploration across the island, ordered the construction of a fortress in Sonador to combat the resistance of the local Tainos commanded by a chief named Bonao.

The Indians of Rincón de Yuboa or Bonao Arriba, beaten and pressured by the Spaniards, disappeared from the place rising towards the caves of Último Cielo, in the Los Capaces jurisdiction.

When the exploitation of gold by the Spanish on the island was exhausted, two sugar mills were installed in Bonao, according to Bachelor Alonso de Parada in a report made to King Carlos V and that appears in the book Santo Domingo in the Manuscripts of Juan Bautista Muñoz transcribed by Roberto Marte: The name of Monseñor Nouel, associated with Bonao, arose for the first time in 1936 of Santo Domingo in honor of the former president of the Republic.

The main economic activity of the area is dominated by local businesses, agricultural producers and by the income generated by the mining company (Falcondo), also known as Falconbridge Dominicana.

There are several public and private basic and secondary educational establishments in the province, specializing in commerce, informatics, industrial technicians; polytechnics and other fields.