Oruro
American Heritage Dictionary:
Top
O·ru·ro
A city of western Bolivia southeast of La Paz. At an altitude of 3,708.5 m (12,159 ft), it depends on mineral deposits found in the area for its economy. Population: 201,000.
Oruro (ōrū'rō), city (1992 pop. 183,422), capital of Oruro dept., W Bolivia. It is Bolivia's railroad center. Oruro's economy is based on exploitation of the region's tin, tungsten, and copper. Because of the altitude (12,146 ft/3,702 m), agriculture is almost nonexistent. Oruro was founded in 1595 to exploit the rich silver deposits nearby. When silver production declined in the 19th cent., it became almost a ghost town. It expanded with the development of other mineral resources.
Dialing Code:
Top
The telephone dialing code for: Oruro, Bolivia
The country code is: 591
The city code is: 52
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Oruro, Bolivia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010) |
| Oruro | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||
|
|||
 Oruro
|
|||
| Coordinates: 17°58′S 67°07′W / 17.967°S 67.117°W | |||
| Country |  Bolivia |
||
| Department | Oruro Department | ||
| Province | Cercado Province | ||
| Founded | November 1, 1606 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Rossío Pimentel | ||
| Elevation | 12,159 ft (3,706 m) | ||
| Population [1] | |||
| • Total | 235,393 | ||
| 2010 calculation | |||
| Time zone | UTC-4 | ||
| Website | http://www.preforuro.gov.bo/ | ||
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 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. For a time, the La Salvadora tin mine was the most important source of tin in the world. Gradually, this resource was also exhausted, and Oruro again went into a decline. The city does manage, however, to attract tourists to its carnival, the Carnaval de Oruro, considered one of the great folkloric events in South America for its masked " diablada".
.JPG)
.JPG)
Oruro was named after the native tribe "Uru-Uru".
The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oruro. The Oruro Symphony Orchestra is based in Oruro. Aymara painter and printmaker Alejandro Mario Yllanes (1913–1960) was born here.[2]
|
Contents
|
Climate
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.
Main attractions
- 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
References
- ^ World Gazetteer
- ^ Raynor, Vivien. ART; Works by a Vanished Bolivian Painter. New York Times. 5 April 1992 (retrieved 2 May 2009)
External links
 |
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
| This Oruro Department location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
|
||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
Read more
Mentioned in
altiplano
(geographical area, Bolivia/Peru)
Gustavo Medeiros (Anaya)
(art)
Avelino Nogales
(art)
» More