Sorata ( Aymara: ''Surat'a'') is a small town in the La Paz Department in the

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, northwest of the city of

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

and east of

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...

. It is the seat of the

Larecaja Province Larecaja is a Provinces of Bolivia, province in the Bolivian La Paz Department, Bolivia, La Paz Department. It was founded by Antonio José de Sucre on October 18, 1826. Its capital is Sorata. Geography The Cordillera Real (Bolivia), Cordiller ...

and the

Sorata Municipality Sorata Municipality (Aymara language, Aymara: ''Surat'a'') is the first Municipalities of Bolivia, municipal section of the Larecaja Province in the La Paz Department (Bolivia), La Paz Department, Bolivia. Its capital is Sorata. The Illampu - Janq ...

. At the time of census 2001 it had a population of 2,217.World-Gazetteer
/ref> It is a somewhat popular weekend getaway and a relaxing base camp for a growing number of hikers. It includes several small hotels, including a converted Italian mansion.

History

In colonial days, Sorata provided a link to the Alto Beni

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

fields and

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

plantations, and a gateway to the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

. In August 1781 it was the site of an unorthodox siege by the nephew of Tupac Amaru, Andres, and his 16,000 soldiers. They constructed dikes above the town, and when these had been filled with runoff from the slopes of the nearby peak

Illampu Illampu is the fourth highest mountain in Bolivia. It is located in the northern section of the Cordillera Real (Bolivia), Cordillera Real, part of the Andes, east of Lake Titicaca. It lies just north of the slightly higher Janq'u Uma, near the t ...

, they opened the floodgates and the town was washed away.Deanna Swaney, Robert Strauss, ''Bolivia'' (Second Edition), Lonely Planet, 1992.The siege is mentioned in Herbert S. Klein, ''Bolivia: the evolution of a multi-ethnic society'' (second edition), Oxford, 1992; however that book makes no mention of the tactic of flooding the town.

Cityscape

Sorata is no longer a major commercial center, as there is now a more direct route to the Yungas from

. Today it is best known to foreign tourists, trekkers, and climbers, who visit this formerly little-known destination. The main square, Plaza General Enrique Penaranda, is Sorata's showcase. It is graced by towering date palms and immaculate gardens. The main town fiesta is held on September 14. Of note is Casa Gunthere, a historic mansion that now houses the Residencial Sorata. It was built in 1895 as the home of the Richters, a

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg ...

trading family. Sorata is located at the base of the mountains

, 6,368 m (20,892 ft), and

Janq'u Uma Ancohuma or Janq'u Uma ( Aymara ''janq'u'' white, ''uma'' water, "white water", also spelled Janq'uma, other spellings, ''Jankho Uma'', ''Jankhouma'') is the third highest mountain in Bolivia (after Sajama and Illimani). It is located in the ...

, 6,427 m (21,086 ft), which are the northern anchors of the Cordillera Real. By the most reliable figures, Janq'u Uma is 11 m (36 ft) lower than Illimani, near La Paz, but surveys in the area are imperfect, and there is much debate between the citizens of both areas as to which mountain is higher.

Climate

Sorata features an unusual

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

, with oceanic elements and high levels of diurnal temperature variation.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in La Paz Department (Bolivia)