Arque is a
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
in
Cochabamba Department in the eastern
cordillera
A cordillera is an extensive chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope').
The term is most commonly us ...
of the
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
n state of
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
.
Geography
The province is surrounded by the provinces of
Tapacarí
Tapacarí, Thapa Qhari is a town and the capital of Tapacarí Province in Cochabamba Department, Bolivia. It is located at an elevation of 2,997 m. At the time of census 2001 it had a population of 411. Most of the population lives either in adjac ...
in the northwest,
Quillacollo in the northeast,
Capinota in the east,
Bolívar in the south and the departments of
Oruro
Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level.
It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by populat ...
in the west and
Potosí
Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location o ...
in the southeast.
It is located in the Bolivian
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
at an elevation between 3,000 and 4,500 metres and about 250 km west of
Cochabamba, the capital of the department. The landscape is deeply fissured. Some of the highest mountains of the province are listed below:
[
]Arque
Arque is a location in the Cochabamba Department, Bolivia. It is the seat of Arque Province and Arque Municipality. Arque is situated at an elevation of 10,735 ft (3,272 m) on the northern bank of Arque River.
At the time of census 2001 it ...
, the capital of the province, is situated on the northern bank of the Arque River
Arque River is one of the headwaters of Río Grande and Mamoré River in Bolivia.
Arque River has its source in the Kimsa Cruz mountain range on the western slope of the mountain Waylluma at , 50 km northeast of the mining city Oruro and 65 ...
, an affluent of the Río Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
.
Climate
The rainy season
The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs.
Rainy Season may also refer to:
* ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King
* "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni
* ''T ...
covers the months from December to April. The precipitation can occur in the form of devastating hailstorms which may even destroy the planted seeds of field crops and the harvests.
Subdivision
Arque Province is divided into two municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
( Spanish: ''municipio'', ''sección'' or ''sección municipal''): Arque Municipality (first section) and Tacopaya Municipality (second section). The two municipalities with one mayor each are further subdivided into four cantons
A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, t ...
and supervised each of them by a ''corregidor'': Arque Canton and Colcha Canton in Arque Municipality and Tacopaya Canton and Ventilla Canton within Tacopaya Municipality. The province is managed by a sub-prefect (''subprefecto'').
Arque Municipality is situated in the eastern part of the province and Tacopaya Municipality is located in the west.
The People
Arque Province has the lowest Index on Human Development (0.311) [''Informe sobre Desarollo Humano''](_blank)
(Spanish) within Bolivia. Of all the 314 municipalities in Bolivia Arque was on the last position ( HDI 0.311) in the year 2001 and Tacopaya was on rank 308 (HDI 0.361). However, in recent years many measures particularly done in the field of education and health have been taken in order to improve the social situation. In 2005 92% of the population of Arque including larger and smaller communities had access to potable water according to reports from Arque Municipality. Only seven communities still remained without water supply at that time.
The province has a rural character. Most families rely on subsistence farming for their livelihood. The peasants cultivate maize, wheat, barley and potatoes on the stark, steep slopes. The population with a high number of indigenous citizens of Quechuan and Aymara descent mostly lived or still lives in humble houses with earthen floor, adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
walls, roofed with thatched material. Often these houses only consist of one single room where the meals are prepared on open fire so that the smoke can cause infections of the eyes. The roofs bear a deadly danger which comes overnight: the blood-sucking '' winchuka'' bugs ''(vinchuca)'', common to the zone, which can cause the Chagas disease
Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily ''Triatominae'', known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change over the cou ...
. During the day the insects hide in crevices in the walls and roofs made of straw. The bugs emerge at night, when the inhabitants are sleeping. One measure to reduce the risk of acquiring the disease is the renovation of houses by using tiles and the construction of houses that are resistant to the entry of the bug.
Some data:
Languages
The languages spoken in the Arque Province are mainly Quechua and Spanish. The following table shows the number of those belonging to the recognized group of speakers.obd.descentralizacion.gov.bo
(Spanish)
References
{{coord, 17, 50, S, 66, 55, W, type:adm2nd_region:BO, display=title
Provinces of Cochabamba Department