Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia Coordinates: 16°42′43″S 64°39′58″W / 16.712°S 64.666°W Bolivia (pronounced /bəˈlɪviə/ ), officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, (Spanish: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, IPA: [esˈtaðo pluɾinasjoˈnal de βoˈliβja]) is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the North, located in a valley In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge bearing the same name in the Andes The Andes are the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America. The range is over 7,000 km long, 200 km (120 mi) to 700 km (430 mi) wide (widest between 18° to 20°S latitude), and of an average height of about 4,000 m (13,000 ft) mountain range A mountain range is a chain of mountains bordered by highlands or separated from other mountains by passes or valleys. Individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geology, though they often do; they may be a mix of different orogeny, for example volcanoes, uplifted mountains or fold mountains and may,. It is the capital A capital city is the area of a country, province, region, or state, regarded as enjoying primary status; although there are exceptions, a capital is almost always a city which physically encompasses the offices and meeting places of the seat of government and is fixed by law. An alternate term is political capital, but this phrase has a second of the Cochabamba Department and is the third largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 (2008)[1] and a metropolitan population of more than 1,000,000 people. The name derives from a compound of the Quechua Quechua is a Native American language family or macrolanguage spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 6 to 8 million speakers . Some speakers of Quechua also words qucha, meaning "lake A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is not global). Another definition is a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size that is surrounded by land. On Earth a body of water is considered a lake when it is inland,", and pampa The Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the State of Rio Grande do Sul, in the southernmost end of Brazil covering more than 750,000 km2 (289,577 sq mi). These vast plains are only interrupted by the low Ventana and, "open plain In geography, a plain is land with relatively low relief, that is flat or gently rolling. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or vegetation may be absent in the case of sandy or stony". Residents of the city and surrounding areas are commonly referred to as Cochabambinos. Cochabamba is known as the "City of Eternal Spring" and "The Garden City" due to its spring-like temperatures year round. It is also known as "La Llajta", "town" in Quechua.

The city is also host to the first World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.

Contents

History

The Cochabamba valley was inhabited for over a thousand years due to its fertile productive soils Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. It is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes that include weathering and and climate Climates encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time. Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present condition of these same elements and their variations over periods up to two weeks. Archaeological Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of past human societies, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data which they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes. Due to the fact that archaeology employs a wide range of different procedures, it can be evidence suggests that the initial valley inhabitants were of various ethnic indigenous groups. Inca The Inca civilization began as a tribe in the Cuzco area, where the legendary first Sapa Inca, Manco Capac founded the Kingdom of Cuzco around 1200. Under the leadership of the descendants of Manco Capac, the Inca state grew to absorb other Andean communities. In 1442, the Incas began a far-reaching expansion under the command of Patchacuti. He, Tupuraya, Mojocoya, Omereque, and Tiwanaku Coordinates: 16°33′17″S 68°40′24″W / 16.55472°S 68.67333°W Tiwanaku is an important Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, South America. Tiwanaku is recognized by Andean scholars as one of the most important precursors to the Inca Empire, flourishing as the ritual and administrative capital of a major state power inhabited the valley at various times before the Spanish arrived.

The first Spanish inhabitant of the Valley was Garci Ruiz de Orellana in 1542. He purchased the majority of the land from local tribal chiefs Achata and Consavana through a title registered in 1552 at the Imperial City of Potosí Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities by elevation in the world at a nominal 4,090 m . It lies beneath the Cerro de Potosí—sometimes referred to as the Cerro Rico ("rich mountain")—a mountain popularly conceived of as being "made of" silver ore, which has. The price paid was 130 pesos. His residence, known as the House of Mayorazgo, still stands in the Cala Cala neighbourhood of the city.

The city, called Villa de Oropesa was founded on 2 August 1571 by order of Viceroy The title was originally used by the Aragonese Crown, where beginning in the 14th century it referred to the governors of Sardinia and Corsica. The absolutist Kings of Spain came to appoint numerous viceroys to rule over various parts of their vast Spanish Empire in Europe, the Americas, and overseas elsewhere Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa, was Spanish viceroy of Peru from November 26, 1569 to September 23, 1581. It was to be an agricultural production centre to provide food for the mining towns of the relatively nearby Altiplano The Altiplano , in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on earth outside of Tibet. Lake Titicaca is its best known geographical feature region, particularly the city of Potosí Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities by elevation in the world at a nominal 4,090 m . It lies beneath the Cerro de Potosí—sometimes referred to as the Cerro Rico ("rich mountain")—a mountain popularly conceived of as being "made of" silver ore, which has which became one of the largest and richest cities in the world during the 17th century - funding the vast wealth that ultimately made Spain a world power at the time. With the silver mining Silver mining refers to the resource extraction of the precious metal element silver by mining industry in Potosi at its height, Cochabamba thrived during its first centuries of existence. The city entered a period of decline during the 18th century as mining began to wane.

In 1786, King Charles III of Spain Charles III was the King of Spain and of the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth of Parma. In 1731, the fifteen-year-old Charles became the Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I, at the death of his childless great uncle Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma renamed the city to the 'loyal and valiant' Villa of Cochabamba. This was done to commend the city's pivotal role in suppressing the indigenous rebellions of 1781 in Oruro by sending armed forces to Oruro to quell the uprisings. Since the late 19th century it has again been generally successful as an agricultural centre for Bolivia.

The 1793 census shows that the city had a population of 22,305 persons. There were 12,980 mestizos Christianity ; and other religions, 6,368 Spaniards, 1,182 indigenous natives, 1,600 mulattos Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black ancestry choose to self-identify as mulatto. Some and 175 African slaves Slavery is a system in which people are the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand wages. In some societies it was legal for an owner to kill a slave. In others it was a crime to kill a slave.

The population, mostly Catholic, in 1902 was over 330,000. Besides a number of schools and charitable institutions the diocese has 55 parishes, 80 churches and chapels, and 160 priests.

In 2000, Cochabamba was wracked with large-scale protests A protest expresses a strong reaction of events or situations. The term protest usually now implies a reaction against something, while previously it could also mean a reaction for something. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly and forcefully making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or government over the privatisation of the city's water supply. See 2000 Cochabamba protests.

In January 2007 city dwellers clashed with mostly rural protestors, leaving four dead and over 130 injured. The first ever democratically-elected Prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, had allied himself with the leaders of Bolivia's Eastern Departments in a dispute with President Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈeβo]), has been the President of Bolivia since 2006 over regional autonomy and other political issues. The protestors blockaded the highways A highway is a public road, especially a major road connecting two or more destinations. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a "highway transportation system". Each country has its own national highway system. Major highways are often named and, bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a valley, road, body of water, or other physical obstacle such as a canyon, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed, the material used to make it and the funds available to, and main roads, having days earlier set fire to the departmental seat of government, trying to force the resignation of Reyes Villa. Citizens attacked the protestors, breaking the blockade and routing them, while the police did little to stop the violence. Further attempts by the protestors to reinstate the blockade and threaten the government were unsuccessful, but the underlying tensions have not been resolved.

In July 2007, a monument erected by veterans of January's protest movement in honour of those killed and injured by government supporters was destroyed in the middle of the night, reigniting racial conflicts in the city.

In August 2008, a nationwide referendum was held, the prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, was not confirmed by the voters of the department.

People and culture

Distant view of Cochabamba's El Prado district

Currently, Cochabamba is among Bolivia's most economically and socially progressive cities. Commensurate with other large cities in the Andean highlands of South America, Cochabamba is a city of varied contrasts. Its central commercial districts, bounded by Plaza Colón and Plaza 14 de Septiembre, is generally equipped with modern urban amenities, and is where the majority of the city's business and commercial industries are based. An active nightlife is centered around Calle España and also along the broad, tree-lined boulevard, El Prado. In contrast, the remote area adjacent to the Wilstermann International Airport An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps takeoff and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport. An airport consists of at least one surface such as a runway for a plane to takeoff and land, a helipad, or water for takeoffs and landings, and often includes buildings such as control is visibly impoverished, with adobe homes and unpaved roads, which is often the first impression visitors acquire while commuting into the city.

The most widely spoken language in Cochabamba is Spanish Countries where Spanish has official status. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 25% or more of the population. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 10-20% of the population. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 5-9.9% of the population. Although the Spanish that is spoken in the Cochabamba region is generally regarded as rather conservative in its phonetics and vocabulary, few Quechua and Aymara terminology (guagua [child], papa [potato]) have been incorporated into its standardized form.

As with most cities around the globe, English language is increasingly spoken and understood, particularly among business minded Indigenous and repatriated Cochabambinos. English-language instruction has become incorporated into various levels of Bolivian education from elementary to college levels.

The city's racial demographics consist of the following visible groups in order of prevalence: Western Hemispheric Indigenous (mostly of Quechua Quechua is a Native American language family or macrolanguage spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 6 to 8 million speakers . Some speakers of Quechua also ethnicity), Mestizo Christianity ; and other religions or mixed Indigenous, and a minority of white Caucasoid The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the indigenous populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia. Historically, the term has been used to describe the entire population of these regions, without regard necessarily to skin tone. In common use, and mixed white (Criollos The Criollos were a social class in the caste system of the overseas colonies established by Spain in the 16th century, especially in Latin America, comprising the locally born people of pure or mostly Spanish ancestry).

Government

Cochabamba, formally the municipality of Cercado, is the capital A capital city is the area of a country, province, region, or state, regarded as enjoying primary status; although there are exceptions, a capital is almost always a city which physically encompasses the offices and meeting places of the seat of government and is fixed by law. An alternate term is political capital, but this phrase has a second of Cochabamba department. The government of the City of Cochabamba is divided into executive On the study of political science the executive branch of government has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the republican idea of the separation of powers and legislative A legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise taxes and adopt the budget and other money bills. Legislatures are known by many names, the branches. The Mayor of Cochabamba is the head of the city government, elected by general election for a term of five years. The Mayor heads an executive branch, which also includes 6 sub-mayors, and a variety of departments comprising 950 total functionaries.[2] The 11-member municipal council is the legislative branch.

The current Mayor is Edwin Castellanos of the Movement Towards Socialism.

Economy

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be and removed. (February 2010)

The area in which Cochabamba is situated is commonly referred to as the granary of Bolivia. Its climate is milder than that of the Altiplano region to the west and thus permits an extensive agriculture, including grains, potatoes, and coffee in the highlands and sugarcane, cocoa beans Cocoa bean is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter are extracted. They are the basis of chocolate, as well as many Mesoamerican foods such as mole sauce and tejate, tobacco, and fruit in the Chapare tropical lowlands, an area that had been one of the country’s main coca Coca is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to north-western South America. The plant plays a significant role in traditional Andean culture. Coca is best known throughout the world because of its alkaloids, which include cocaine, a powerful stimulant-leaf-producing regions.[citation needed]

Cochabamba is also the industrial pole of Bolivia, producing cars An automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the, cleaning products, cosmetics, chemicals, and other items like cement.

The economy of Cochabamba is characterized by produce goods and services.

The airline Boliviana de Aviación has its headquarters in Cochabamba.[3] The defunct airline Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (LAB Airlines) had its management offices on the grounds of Jorge Wilstermann Airport in Cochabamba.[4][5]

Urban Transport

The metropolitan area of Cochabamba (Vinto, Tiquipaya, Quillacollo, Colcapirhua, Cochabamba and Sacaba) has an extensive transportation system, which cover all the districts.

There are almost 70 bus and minibus lines, from A to Z, and dozens of minibuses and taxi lines trufis. Most lines have GPS The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides reliable location and time information in all weather and at all times and anywhere on or near the Earth when and where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. It is maintained by the United States government and is freely system for monitoring and regulation of hour (line 1, line 16, line L, Line 3V, line 20, line 30,etc). As for the service or commonly called T.RU.FI (taxi con ruta fija) there are at least 60 lines, they are identified by signs on the roof of the vehicle showing the route from the initial stop until the final stop is also indicated line number to which it belongs.

The busiest bus lines are:

Road marking

And the busiest Taxi Trufi lines are:

Basic Services

Cochabamba account generally higher quality basic services in Bolivia, except, probably SEMAPA.

These companies are nationally recognized:

Comteco, a company dedicated to the public telephone service to national and district levels, also has Internet service, cable TV, and many others.

Dumpster placed by EMSA

EMSA Municipal Sanitation Company, responsible for the pickup, transportation, storage and removed from urban waste produced. It is estimated that in Cercado, produced 120 tonnes of waste per day.

In Cochabamba, this company, through, the municipal government of Cochabamba, special containers made available for the storage of solid waste common in much of the city.

Media

Cochabamba As a department with high turnover, have established many media including:

Print Media

There are several newspapers in Cochabamba, there is also movement of national and international newspapers, highlighting the following:

Radio Stations

The main radio stations scattered across the department and the capital are:

Show All>>

 

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