 Bayaguana was founded in 1606, when Spain resettled colonists from the northern and western part of Hispaniola closer to Santo Domingo, under the government eviction programme known as the devastations of Osorio.Spanish colonists from La Yaguana and Bayajá (present-day Léogâne and Fort-Liberté, Haiti) were resettled in the town.The economy is centered on cattle-ranching and pineapple and rice farming.