Puerto Francisco de Orellana (), also known as El Coca (), is the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

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 ...

of Orellana in eastern

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. The city is located in the

Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

at the confluence of the

Coca River The Coca River is a river in eastern Ecuador. It is a tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or oc ...

and the

Napo River The Napo River ( es, Río Napo) is a tributary to the Amazon River that rises in Ecuador on the flanks of the east Andean volcanoes of Antisana, Sincholagua and Cotopaxi. The total length is . The river drains an area of . The mean annual discha ...

(the smaller

Payamino River The Payamino River is a river of Ecuador. It is a tributary of the Napo River, merging into the latter at the city of Puerto Francisco de Orellana. The Coca River also merges into the Napo River in the city, but at a point about downstream from ...

also merges into the Napo in the city). It has a population of 45,163 inhabitants as of 2010. It is visited by tourists going into the Amazonian forest and is served by the

Francisco de Orellana Airport Francisco de Orellana Airport is an airport serving Puerto Francisco de Orellana (also known as Coca), the capital of Orellana Province in Ecuador. The airport is within the town, running parallel to the Coca River. Runway length does not incl ...

Overview

The city is named for

Francisco de Orellana Francisco de Orellana Bejarano Pizarro y Torres de Altamirano (; 1511 – November 1546) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. In one of the most improbably successful voyages in known history, Orellana managed to sail the length of the Amaz ...

, who explored the confluence of the Coca River and the Napo River. It is believed that he set sail from the current location of the town eventually making his way into the Amazon River seeing the "Amazon" or tribes in which the women also fought. Eventually Francisco de Orellana made it to the Atlantic. He made a second expedition leaving but died on the Amazon delta unable to find a way through.

Government

The new mayor of the town was Antonio Vera in 2019 to replace

Anita Rivas Anita Carolina Rivas Párraga (born May 4, 1972) is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician. She was the mayor of Puerto Francisco de Orellana from 2005 to 2019. In 2009 she visited the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Spain to propose that oil in he ...

who had served since 2005.

Climate

Puerto Francisco de Orellano has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.

References

External links

Official website

Official tourism website of El Coca
* Populated places in Orellana Province Provincial capitals in Ecuador {{Ecuador-geo-stub