Santa Ana de Velasco (or simply Santa Ana) is a small town in the

Santa Cruz Department Santa Cruz () is the largest of the nine constituent departments of Bolivia, occupying about one-third (33.74%) of the country's territory. With an area of , it is slightly smaller than Japan or the US state of Montana. It is located in the e ...

, Bolivia.

History

The mission of Santa Ana was founded in 1755 by Julian Knogler.

Location

Santa Ana is the central town of ''Cantón Santa Ana'' and is located in the San Ignacio de Velasco Municipality, José Miguel de Velasco Province. It is known as part of the ''

Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos The Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos are located in Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia. Six of these former missions (all now secular municipalities) collectively were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. Distinguished by a un ...

'', which is declared in 1990 a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

, as a former

Jesuit Reduction Reductions ( es, reducciones, also called ; , pl. ) were settlements created by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such red ...

. The town is situated at an elevation of 464 m in the Chiqitanía region between Santa Cruz capital and the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian border. Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos-en

Transportation

Santa Ana is located 441 km north-east of Santa Cruz, the department's capital. From there, the national road ''Ruta 4'' goes north to Montero, Santa Cruz where it meets ''Ruta 10''. This road goes east for 339 km to

San Ignacio de Velasco San Ignacio de Velasco, is the capital of the José Miguel de Velasco Province and the San Ignacio de Velasco Municipality in the Santa Cruz Department of Bolivia. History The Jesuit mission of San Ignacio de Velasco was founded in 1748 by the ...

, on its way passing San Ramón, San Javier and Santa Rosa de la Roca. From San Igancio, a dirt road goes south to

San Rafael de Velasco San Rafael de Velasco or San Rafael is the seat of the San Rafael Municipality in the José Miguel de Velasco Province, Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia. It is part of the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos. In 1990 it was declared a World Heritage Si ...

and passes Santa Ana after 45 km.

Population

The population of the place has increased rapidly over the past two decades: *1992: 284 inhabitants (

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

) *2001: 483 inhabitants (census) *2010: 684 inhabitants (updating)World Gazetteer
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Languages

Today, Camba Spanish is the most commonly used everyday language. In the past, various dialects of Otuke, such as Covareca and Curuminaca, were spoken at the mission of Santa Ana.

References

External links

Santa Ana de Velasco: Description of Jesuit mission with pictures and information

{{Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos Populated places in Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia) World Heritage Sites in Bolivia Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos