Cotacachi is a canton of Imbabura province of

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 ...

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 ...

. The name also refers to

Cotacachi (city) Cotacachi is a town that is the seat of Cotacachi Canton, Imbabura Province, Ecuador in South America. Cotacachi is located at an altitude of and had a population of 8,848 in 2010. Cotacachi is an artisan city that is famous for its leather good ...

, the seat of that canton, which is one of Ecuador's leading artisanal manufacturers of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

goods, and to the dormant

Cotacachi Volcano Cotacachi is a dormant volcano in the Western Cordillera of the northern Ecuadorian Andes, in the west of Imbabura Province, above the city of Cotacachi. It has a summit elevation of above sea level and its highest elevations are capped with sn ...

which overlooks the canton. Cotacachi Canton had a population of 37,215 in the 2001 census and 40,036 in the 2010 census. The area is . The Canton is divided into nine parishes: 6 de Julio de Cuellaje, Apuela, Cotacachi (Kutakachi), García Morena (Llurimagua, Llurimawa), Imantag, Peñagerrera, Plaza Gutiérrez (Calvario, Kalwaryu), Quiroga, Vacas Galindo (El Churo). The city of Cotacachi holds a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

medal for being free of

illiteracy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

. In 2000 the canton of Cotacachi was declared the first ecological county of South America. The name Cotacachi has many meanings. In "

Cara Cara or CARA may refer to: Places * Čara, a village on the island of Korčula, Croatia * Cara, a village in Cojocna Commune, Cluj County, Romania * Cara Island, off the west coast of Argyll, Scotland * Cara Paraná River, Colombia * Cara Sucia ...

" it means "lake with women breast" which refers to the general shape of the island in

Cuicocha Cuicocha (Kichwa: ''Kuykucha'', "lake of guinea pigs" or ''Kuychikucha'', "rainbow lake") is a wide caldera and crater lake at the foot of Cotacachi Volcano in the Cordillera Occidental of the Ecuadorian Andes. Its name comes from the Kichwa in ...

lake; in

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 ...

it means powder salt. The ecosystems of the area and the native flora and fauna makes this canton one of the ecologically richest zones in South America. The area attracts tourists for bird-watching, camping, and fly fishing. The weather in the area ranges from 9 to 25 degrees Celsius and is cooler in the evenings. In the last decade Cotacachi has implemented a new system of local development by creating a city council. All the sectors of the society, from children to the ancient, rural and urban representatives participate in the council. Cotacachi is an example of development and progress. Ascendant Corporation plans to raze to the ground the villages of Junín, Cerro Pelado, and El Triunfo in order to make ground for

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

mining. Since the complete moratorium passed on all mining in Ecuador (as of May 2008), however, this has been delayed if not completely halted. Pachakutik, a party of the indigenous population gained four of five seats in the area at the 2004 local elections. For the 2009-2014 period, Alberto Anrango (supporter of the Alianza PAIS party) was the mayor of Cotacachi. In 2014, Jomar Cevallos, founder of the new party, Ally Kawsay ("Vivir Bien" in Spanish, or "Good Living" in English), won the election for the 2015-2019 period. Cotacachi is known for quality

goods; it has a number of shops on "Leather Street" that sell coats, jackets, shoes, and specialty items. It is also known for their traditional local cuisine including the “carne colorada” dish, which is based on pork cooked with

achiote ''Bixa orellana'', also known as achiote, is a shrub native to Central America. ''Bixa orellana'' is grown in many countries worldwide. The tree is best known as the source of annatto, a natural orange-red condiment (also called or ) obtained ...

and served with cooked potato, corn, mote,

empanada An empanada is a type of baked or fried turnover consisting of pastry and filling, common in Spanish, other Southern European, Latin American, and Iberian-influenced cultures around the world. The name comes from the Spanish (to bread, i.e., ...

and avocado. Cotacachi was designated a ''

Pueblo Mágico In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

'' (magical town) by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) in 2019. It is one of the country's five original ''Pueblos Mágicos''.

Demographics

Cotacachi canton has an area of and had a population of 42,010 in 2010. The capital of the canton, the town of Cotacachi, had a population of 8,848 in 2010. 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 Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...

53.5% *

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 ...

40.6% *

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 Ecuad ...

2.8% *

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 on ...

2.5% *

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 ...

0.5% *Other 0.2%

References

External links

website to Cotacachi
{{Authority control Cantons of Imbabura Province

Demographics

See also

References

External links