Loja Province () is one of 24

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

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: ' ...

and shares its southern border on the west with El Oro Province, on the north with El Azuay, and on the east with

Zamora-Chinchipe Zamora Chinchipe (), Province of Zamora Chinchipe is a province of the Republic of Ecuador, located at the southeastern end of the Amazon Basin, which shares borders with the Ecuadorian provinces of Azuay and Morona Santiago to the north, Loja ...

. Founded on its present site in 1548 by Captain Alonso de Mercadillo (Spanish), the site had been previously moved and rebuilt from

La Toma ''La Toma'' (Spanish: ''The taking'') was a legal declaration made by Don Juan de Oñate on 30 April 1598 in present-day San Elizario, Texas. It stated that Spain was taking possession of all territory north of the Rio Grande for King Philip II of ...

due to earthquakes. It also is named as "Cuxibamba Valley", from the

Quichua Kichwa (, , also Spanish ) is a Quechuan language that includes all Quechua varieties of Ecuador and Colombia (''Inga''), as well as extensions into Peru. It has an estimated half million speakers. The most widely spoken dialects are Chimborazo ...

language, which means the "Smiley Valley".

Overview

Loja is located in a high Andean valley at an elevation of 7,300 feet (2,225 m). It had a population of 448,966 inhabitants at the 2010 census. It is recognized as being a friendly and pleasant city. This was demonstrated when Loja, both the provincial capital and one of the oldest cities in Ecuador, won a community involvement award in 2001 in recognition of the community's ongoing effort to support and to protect the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

. Surrounded by two rivers, the Zamora and Malacatos, Loja has a variety of microclimates. This unique position results in numerous ecological zones. Based between the humid

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

basin and the coastal sechura desert in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

the environment consists of

páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrowe ...

, cloud forest and

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

landscapes. 86% of the province is covered by hills or mountains. Its historical buildings and

colonial architecture Colonial architecture is an architectural style from a mother country that has been incorporated into the buildings of settlements or colonies in distant locations. Colonists frequently built settlements that synthesized the architecture of their ...

make the city of Loja a popular tourist attraction. Famous for the Vírgen del Cisne religious festivals it organizes in September every year, Loja is also known for its musicians. The city has a number of important music academies, including the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica, the house of the most influential musicians in Ecuador. The city is commonly referred to as the 'musical capital of Ecuador.' There are also two universities, Universidad Tecnica Particular De Loja and Universidad Nacional de Loja. There is an important law school here as well. Just south of Loja (42 km) is Vilcabamba, which is known as the Valley of Longevity. Inhabitants of this community enjoy a long life span due to its ideal climate and local

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

. Researchers and scientists have regularly visited the town, studying its geographical conditions, climate, soil and water.

Articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: ...

have even appeared in well known

periodical A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also example ...

s such as ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

'' and ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

'' magazine, providing their own theories to the

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for " life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always ...

of Vilcabamba's inhabitants. Loja is credited with being the first city in Ecuador to have acquire the means to produce electricity. Electric power was supplied to the city by the introduction of the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam, the original structure of which was completed in 1896.

Economy

A lot of investment has been made recently in the cochinilla farms that provide

commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. The price of a co ...

for both the textile and cosmetic industries. La Toma historically has provided suitable conditions for many

sugar plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

. Commodities such as sugar and coffee are not often grown to be exported internationally like cochinilla, but are instead bought and sold domestically. Loja Province has seen its fair share of mining, predominantly gold and bauxite, which has consequently caused damage to the environment.

Demographics

Ethnic groups as of the

Ecuadorian census The Ecuadorian census is conducted by the governmental institution known as ''INEC'', ''Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas y Censos'' (National Institute of Statistics and Census).INEC The census in Ecuador is conducted every 10 years, and its obj ...

of 2010: *

Mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...

90.2% *

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

3.7% *

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

2.9% *

Afro-Ecuadorian Afro-Ecuadorians or Afroecuatorianos (Spanish), are Ecuadorians of predominantly Sub-Saharan African descent. History and background Most Afro-Ecuadorians are the descendants of enslaved Africans who were transported by Spanish slavers to Ecuado ...

2.4% *

Montubio Montubio is the term used to describe the mestizo people of the countryside of coastal Ecuador. The Montubio make up 7.4% of the country's population and were recognized as a distinct ethnicity by the government in the spring of 2001 after prot ...

0.7% *Other 0.1%

Government and politics

Loja Province, much like other divisions in Ecuador, is divided into three main institutions. *

Municipio ' (, ) and ' () are country subdivisions in Italy and several Hispanophone and Lusophone nations, respectively. They are often translated as "municipality". In the English language, a municipality often is defined as relating to a single city or ...

, which is elected by the population every four years and is headed by the Mayor (Jorge Bailón as of 2021) * Prefectura, which is the government at a local level and is headed by the Prefecto. This institution is responsible for all the 16 cantons and is elected by the population every four years. * Gobernacion delegates the work from the president which is concentrated at the national level. The candidate is elected by the president himself.

Ecology

The region is famous for plants, bird species, and butterflies which can often be seen in protected national parks, the most important being

Podocarpus ''Podocarpus'' () is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family, the Podocarpaceae. The name comes from Greek πούς (poús, “foot”) + καρπός (karpós, “fruit”). ''Podocarpus'' species ...

. This park is 1,463 square kilometres and has an elevation ranging from 1000 m to 3690 m. The park is home for a number of animals like

bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the No ...

and pumas as well as exotic birdlife. Over 40% of the park's 3,000–4,000 plant species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

, unique to this area. There are also more than 600 species of birds here. * Cherimoyas: This tasty fruit occurs naturally in Loja Province, in the localities of Amaluza, Cariamanga, Gonzanamá, and Vilcabamba. Its natural occurrence comprises altitudes of 1500 to 2000 meters of altitude. Mean optimal annual temperature for cherimoya growing in Ecuador is between 18 and 20 °C. Optimal annual precipitation is 800 – 1,000 mm. Wild cherimoya plant Vilcabamba Ecuador

Cantons

The province is divided into 16

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

s. The following table lists each with its population at the 2010 census, its area in square kilometres (km²), and the name of its canton seat or capital.Cantons of Ecuador
Statoids.com. Retrieved 4 November 2009.

References

External links

*
Lojanos.com
– informative Spanish website including local and national news, tourist information, and cultural and social events of Loja City and the province of Loja {{Authority control Provinces of Ecuador 1548 establishments in the Spanish Empire