Villa Rica District
Villa Rica | |
|---|---|
 The town of Villa Rica | |
| Country |  Peru |
| Region | Pasco |
| Province | Oxapampa |
| Founded | November 27, 1944 |
| Capital | Villa Rica |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Juan Carlos La Torre Moscoso |
| Area | |
| • Total | 896.42 km2 (346.11 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,466 m (4,810 ft) |
| Population (2017 Census) | |
| • Total | 18,763 |
| • Density | 21/km2 (54/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (PET) |
| UBIGEO | 190307 |
Villa Rica District is one of eight districts of Oxapampa Province in Pasco Department, Peru. The district has an area of 896 square kilometres (346 sq mi) and a population of 18,673 in 2017.[1] The capital of the district is the town of Villa Rica which had a population of 11,900 in 2017. [2]
The District of Villa Rica is on the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains in an area of abundant rainfall and mild temperatures. It is located in the ecological zone of the Peruvian Yungas, or Ceja de Selva ("eyebrow of the jungle"), the transition zone between the low jungles of the Amazon Basin and the Andes highlands. Elevations in the district range from about 800 metres (2,600 ft) to about 2,400 metres (7,900 ft). Where not cleared for agriculture, the vegetation is tropical and sub-tropical forests.[3] [4]
History
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In pre-Columbian and colonial Peru, the Villa Rica area was important for a large vein of salt, the Cerro de la Sal (Hill of Salt), in what would become the Villa Rica District. The exposed salt vein was about 17 metres (56 ft) wide and ran along the top of a hill for a distance of about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi). The Cerro de la Sal was the preferred source of salt for the indigenous people in the region and they congregated there by the hundreds in the comparatively dry months of July through September to mine the salt. The workers cut blocks of salt from the vein of a size, approximately 20 kilograms (44 lb), that could be carried by a single porter a few miles to the Paucartambo River. The salt was loaded onto balsa wood rafts and transported down the Paucartambo River to its junction with the Chanchamayo River, forming the Perené River, and hence onward to the peoples living in the low jungles of the Amazon Basin. As many as 600 rafts per season carried salt down the rivers.[5]
During the other nine months of the year the Cerro de la Sal was almost abandoned. A Spanish expedition in May 1691 found only 44 people there of whom a few were mining salt.[6] Reasons for the seasonality of the Cerro de la Sal include the difficulty of navigating the flooded rivers during the rainy season and the fact that the Cerro is above the 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) maximum elevation for the cultivation of manioc, the principal food crop of the indigenous people of the low jungles.[7] The Asháninka or Campa were the most numerous of the peoples mining the salt but a few Yanesa (Amuesha) were also present.[8]
Climate
Villa Rica has a Af (tropical, humid, no pronounced dry season) climate under the Koppen Classification system. However, the climate borders on Aw (tropical savannah with a dry season) and Cfb (subtropical mountain climate, "eternal spring.") Measured by the Trewartha climate classification system the climate is Arbb (tropical rainforest with warm summers and winters). Villa Rica's climate is modified by its altitude which results in lower average temperatures year than low-elevation tropics. The monthly deviation in average temperatures between the hottest and coldest months is only 1.8 degrees C (3 degrees F). The austral winter months of June and July are fairly dry, but precipitation is abundant during the remainder of the year.
| Climate data for Villa Rica, Villa Rica District 1,466 metres (4,810 ft) above sea level | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 26.0 (78.8) |
25.2 (77.4) |
25.0 (77.0) |
26.1 (79.0) |
26.4 (79.5) |
26.2 (79.2) |
25.9 (78.6) |
26.5 (79.7) |
26.8 (80.2) |
26.5 (79.7) |
26.6 (79.9) |
25.6 (78.1) |
26.1 (79.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 20.0 (68.0) |
19.5 (67.1) |
19.1 (66.4) |
19.6 (67.3) |
19.1 (66.4) |
18.5 (65.3) |
18.2 (64.8) |
18.8 (65.8) |
19.5 (67.1) |
19.8 (67.6) |
19.9 (67.8) |
19.3 (66.7) |
19.3 (66.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.0 (57.2) |
13.8 (56.8) |
13.2 (55.8) |
13.1 (55.6) |
11.8 (53.2) |
10.9 (51.6) |
10.6 (51.1) |
11.1 (52.0) |
12.2 (54.0) |
13.1 (55.6) |
13.3 (55.9) |
13.0 (55.4) |
12.5 (54.5) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 272 (10.7) |
258 (10.2) |
246 (9.7) |
162 (6.4) |
106 (4.2) |
62 (2.4) |
61 (2.4) |
80 (3.1) |
125 (4.9) |
175 (6.9) |
176 (6.9) |
255 (10.0) |
1,978 (77.9) |
| Source: Climate-data-org[9] | |||||||||||||
Places of interest
References
- ^ "Villa Rica (District)". City Population. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
- ^ "Villa Rica". City Population. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
- ^ The Nature Conservancy (2006). Planificacion para la Conservacion Ecoregional de las Yungas Peruanas. Peru: Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina.
- ^ Google Earth
- ^ Tibesar, Antonine S. (October 1950). "The Salt Trade among the Montana Indians of the Tarma Area of Eastern Peru". Primitive Man. 23 (4): 103–106.. Downloaded from JSTOR.
- ^ Tibesar 1950, p. 103.
- ^ "Chapter Eight: Human Occupation of the Central Selva of Peru". Organization of American States. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- ^ Tibesar 1950, pp. 106–107.
- ^ "Villa Rica". Retrieved 16 June 2020.
| |
|---|---|
| Daniel Alcides Carrión | |
| Oxapampa | |
| Pasco | |
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