Chuquisaca is a
department||Bolivia is divided into 9 departments . These are :*Beni *Chuquisaca *Cochabamba *La Paz *Oruro *Pando *Potosí...
of
BoliviaBolivia, officially Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west....
located in the center south. It borders on the departments of
CochabambaCochabamba is one of the nine component departments of Bolivia. It is known to be the "granary" of the country because of its variety of agricultural products due to Cochabamba's geographical position...
,
TarijaTarija is a department in Bolivia. It is located in south eastern Bolivia bordering Argentina to the south and Paraguay to the east. According to the 2001 census, it has a population of 391,226 inhabitants. It has an area of 37.623 km²...
,
PotosíThe department of Potosí is in southwestern Bolivia. It comprises 118,218 km² with 709,013 inhabitants . The capital is the city of Potosí....
, and
Santa CruzSanta Cruz, with an area of 370,621 km², is the largest of the nine constituent departments of Bolivia. In the 2001 census, it reported a population of 2,029,471. The capital is the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The state is one of the wealthiest states in Bolivia with huge reserves of natural gas...
. The departmental capital is Sucre, which is also the constitutional capital of Bolivia.
Geography
The department is traversed by the main
cordilleraA cordillera is an extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges, that runs along a coastline . It comes from the Spanish word cordilla, which is a diminutive of cuerda, or "cord".-Notable cordilleras:...
of the
AndesThe Andes are the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America...
mountain range and lesser cordilleras. Parts of it lie within the basin of the
Amazon RiverThe Amazon River of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next eight largest rivers combined. The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow. During...
, and other parts within the basin of the
Río de La PlataThe Río de la Plata —always rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries— is the river formed by the combination of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River...
.
Government
The departments of Bolivia are governed by prefects. June 29, 2008,
Savina CuéllarSavina Cuéllar is a Bolivian politician, currently serving as governor of the Department of Chuquisaca. She is of Quechua ancestry and one of the leading oppositionists to president Evo Morales....
of the Alianza Comité Interinstitucional (ACI) was elected Prefect of Chuquisaca.
Provinces
The department is divided into 10
provinceA province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Roman provinces:The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from Old French province , which comes from the Latin word provincia, which referred to the sphere of activity which a...
s.
| Name |
Population |
Area km² |
Capital |
| Oropeza - Subdivision :The province is divided into three municipalities which are further subdivided into cantons....
|
275.765 |
3.943 |
Yotala |
| Azurduy Juana Azurduy de Padilla was the wife of a hero named Manuel Asencio Padilla and, together they fought against the Spaniards in the 1800s. There is currently a small capital city named after Padilla in the Bolivian province of Tomina, Chuquisaca Department, Bolivia.Juana lost all of her children...
|
27.973 |
4.185 |
Sopachuy |
| Jaime Zudáñez |
34.640 |
3.738 |
Presto Presto is a Bolivian town located in Jaime Zudáñez Province, Chuquisaca Department, 95 km east of Sucre....
|
| Tomina |
38.359 |
3.947 |
Padilla |
| Hernando Siles Hernando Siles is a province of the department of Chuquisaca, Bolivia. It has a population of 36.511 and covers an area of 5,473 km², giving a population density of 6.67/km². Its capital is Monteagudo.- Subdivision :...
|
37.035 |
5.473 |
MonteagudoMonteagudo is a small town in South Eastern Bolivia. Its name is dedicated to Bernardo de Monteagudo Cáceres who took part in the Chuquisaca revolution of 25 May 1809.- Location :...
|
| Yamparaez |
28.797 |
1.472 |
TarabucoTarabuco is a Bolivian town in the department of Chuquisaca, capital of the Yamparáez Province and its first section, Tarabuco Municipality.It is best known as the home of the Yampara culture. Its people host the Pujllay festival in March each year...
|
| Nor Cinti |
71.084 |
7.983 |
CamargoCamargo is a small town in the Chuquisaca Department of Bolivia in the the South American Andes.-Location:Camargo is the capital of Nor Cinti Province and is situated in Camargo Municipio, embedded between north-southerly mountain ridges, at an elevation of 2,414 m, on the banks of Río Chico which...
|
| Sud Cinti |
24.010 |
5.484 |
Villa Abecia |
| Belisario Boeto |
12.237 |
2.000 |
Serrano |
| Luis Calvo |
22.275 |
13.299 |
Villa Vaca Guzmán (Tarvita) |
History
The native inhabitants were the Charcas, who were dispersed along riverbanks and lowlands. Their leaders,
jampiris, sorcerers, and priests resided in the capital, Choque-Chaca, which according to 17th century chronicles had a population of several thousand.
The capital city of Sucre
SucreSucre is the constitutional capital of Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an altitude of 2750m . Its lower altitude gives the city a warm temperate climate year-round....
(elev. 2750 m) is called the city of the four names, each name corresponding to a different period of its history. It was founded by the Spaniard Pedro de Anzures in 1538. It thrived due to its regional proximity to the famous silver mines of Potosi, and as
Charcas served as capital of the Real Audiencia de Charcas, encompassing all of current Bolivia's territory and more. Reverting to its native name of Chuquisaca, it was the Upper Peru's chief administrative center and largest city. It was there that the first public call for independence from Spain took place, on May 25, 1809, and where the Act of Independence from Spanish rule was signed on August 6, 1825. It was immediately designated the capital of independent Bolivia, under the auspices of Simon Bolivar and Antonio Jose de Sucre. Years later, the city of Chuquisaca was renamed Sucre in honor of the Venezuelan-born hero of South America's independence, who had served as the first effective administrator of the country (and second President).
When the center of political and economic power shifted north, to the tin-producing regions of Oruro and La Paz, Sucre's importance waned, leading to the displacement of the legislative and executive powers to La Paz. However, in honor of Sucre's historical preponderance, the judicial branch (Supreme Court) continues to operate there, and the city's official status as capital of the country was never revoked.
Languages
The languages spoken in the department are mainly
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
and
QuechuaQuechua is a Native American language family 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...
. The following table shows the number of those belonging to the recognized group of speakers.
| Language |
Department |
Bolivia |
QuechuaQuechua is a Native American language family 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...
|
298,050 |
2,281,198 |
| Aymara Aymara is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. It is one of only a handful of Native American languages with over a million speakers. Aymara, along with Quechua and Spanish, is an official language of Peru and Bolivia...
|
4,308 |
1,525,321 |
| Guaraní Guaraní, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guaraní , is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí-Guaraní subfamily of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay , where it is spoken by 88% of the population, with half of the...
|
8,330 |
62,575 |
| Another native |
145 |
49,432 |
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
|
376,071 |
6,821,626 |
| Foreign |
8,840 |
250,754 |
| Only native |
122,401 |
960,491 |
| Native and Spanish |
185,598 |
2,739,407 |
| Spanish and foreign |
190,599 |
4,115,751 |
External links