Oruro, Bolivia
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| Oruro | |||
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 Oruro
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| Coordinates: 17°58′S 67°07′W / 17.967°S 67.117°W | |||
| Country |  Bolivia |
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| Department | Oruro Department | ||
| Province | Cercado Province | ||
| Founded | November 1, 1606 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Rossío Pimentel | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 1,633 km2 (631 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 3,706 m (12,159 ft) | ||
| Population (2012)[1] | |||
| • Total | 240,966 | ||
| • Density | 150/km2 (380/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | UTC-4 | ||
| Website | Official website | ||
Oruro is a city in Bolivia with a population of 235,393 (2010 calculation),[1] located about equidistant between La Paz and Sucre at approximately 3710 meters above sea level. It is the capital of the department of Oruro. The city is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oruro. Oruro is subject to boom or bust cycles due to it dependence upon the mining industry, notably tin, tungsten (wolfram), silver and copper.
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History [edit]
The city was first founded on November 1, 1606 by Don Manuel Castro de Padilla. as a silver mining center in the Urus region. At the time, it was named Real Villa de San Felipe de Austria after the Spanish monarch, Philip III. It was eventually abandoned as the silver mines became exhausted. Oruro was reestablished in the late nineteenth century, as a tin mining center,[2] Oruro being named after the native tribe "Uru-Uru". For a time, the La Salvadora tin mine was the most important source of tin in the world. Gradually, this resource became less plentiful, and Oruro again went into a decline, although its primary employer is still the mining industry.[2]
Culture and education [edit]
Despite its economic decline, the city still manages to attract tourists to its carnival, the Carnaval de Oruro, considered one of the great folkloric events in South America for its masked "diablada".[3]
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The Oruro Symphony Orchestra is based in Oruro. Aymara painter and printmaker Alejandro Mario Yllanes (1913–1960) was born here.[4]
The Universidad Técnica de Oruro, noted for its engineering school, is located in Oruro.[5]
Climate [edit]
The city of Oruro lies north of the salty lakes Uru-Uru and Poopó and it is just three hours (by bus) south from La Paz. Located at an altitude of 3709 meters above sea level, Oruro its well known for its cold weather. Warmer temperatures generally take place during August, September and October, after the worst of the winter chills and before the summer rains. From May to early July, night time temperatures combined with cool wind can bring the temperature down to about -20 °C. Summers are warmer, but despite the fact of being an arid area, there's quite a lot of rainfall between November and March.
| Climate data for Oruro | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 66 (19) |
64 (18) |
64 (18) |
64 (18) |
61 (16) |
59 (15) |
59 (15) |
63 (17) |
64 (18) |
66 (19) |
68 (20) |
66 (19) |
63.7 (17.7) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 39 (4) |
39 (4) |
37 (3) |
30 (−1) |
23 (−5) |
14 (−10) |
14 (−10) |
29 (−2) |
28 (−2) |
32 (0) |
34 (1) |
37 (3) |
29.7 (−1.2) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 3.7 (94) |
3.3 (84) |
2.0 (51) |
0.6 (15) |
0.2 (5) |
0.1 (3) |
0.1 (3) |
0.4 (10) |
0.6 (15) |
0.6 (15) |
1.3 (33) |
2.5 (64) |
15.4 (392) |
| Source: Weatherbase [6] | |||||||||||||
Main attractions [edit]
- Museo Patiño, former residence of "tin baron" Simón Iturri Patiño
- Museo Mineralógico (Mineralogical Museum): has exhibits of precious stones, minerals, and fossils
- Museo Etnográfico Minero (Ethnographical Mining Museum): housed in a mine tunnel, depicts methods of Bolivian mining
- Museo Nacional Antropológico Eduardo López Rivas(National Anthropological Museum): displays tools and information on the Chipayas and Urus tribes and Carnaval de Oruro.
- Churches: Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Santuario de la Virgen del Socavón, Iglesia de Cunchupata
- Inti Raymi, a mine
Twin Cities [edit]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ World Gazetteer
- ^ a b "Oruro: History". Lonely Planet.
- ^ Kartomi, Margaret Joy and Blum, Stephen (1994). Music-Cultures In Contact: Convergences And Collisions. Basel, Switzerland: Gordon and Breach. p. 63. ISBN 978-2-88449-137-2.
- ^ Raynor, Vivien. ART; Works by a Vanished Bolivian Painter. New York Times. 5 April 1992 (retrieved 2 May 2009)
- ^ "Official Facultad Nacional de Ingeniería (National Engineering School) webpage" (in Spanish).
- ^ "Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Oruro". Weatherbase. 2011. Retrieved on November 24, 2011.
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Oruro |
- Oruro's full information about hotels, history, carnival, tourism, pictures, videos, and news.
- Weather in Oruro
- Carnaval de Oruro
- Oruro's Carnival
- Oruro's Carnival
- Oruro
Coordinates: 17°58′S 67°07′W / 17.967°S 67.117°W
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