Historical Overview

Yabucoa was established on October 3, 1793, when territory was separated from neighboring Humacao, and is located in the fertile southeastern coastal valley of Puerto Rico. Known as La Ciudad del Nuevo Amanecer (The City of the New Dawn), the municipality built its colonial economy on cattle ranching and sugar production, later becoming the mother town of Maunabo in 1799. The main parish, Parroquia Santos Ángeles Custodios, holds baptismal records dating to 1813, marriage records from 1829, and burial records from 1837, with civil registration beginning in 1885. Researchers tracing Afro-Puerto Rican ancestry should note that Yabucoa's 1872 slave registers survive and are especially valuable for this historically sugar-producing region.

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms features a green field representing the fertile valley. Two silver angels represent the Holy Guardian Angels (Santos Ángeles Custodios), the patron saints of the municipality. Two gold sugarcane stalks represent the agricultural industry that sustained the local economy for centuries. The three-towered mural crown identifies the settlement as a municipality.