Ñuflo de Chávez is one of the fifteen provinces of 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 ...

n Santa Cruz Department and is situated in the northern and central parts of the department. The name of the province honors the

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

Ñuflo de Chaves (1518–1556) who founded the city of

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; ), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), Pirai River in the eastern Tropical ...

. Its capital is Concepción. The province was created by law of September 16, 1915, during the presidency of Ismael Montes. Originally it was part of the Chiquitos Province.Official site of Ñuflo de Chávez Province
(Spanish)

Location

Ñuflo de Chávez Province is located between 13° 45' and 17° 30'

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and between 61° 30' and 63° 25' West. It extends over a length of 520 km from north to south, and up to 250 km from west to east. The province is situated in the Bolivian lowlands and borders

Beni Department Beni (), sometimes El Beni, is a northeastern Departments of Bolivia, department of Bolivia, in the lowlands region of the country. It is the second-largest department in the country (after Santa Cruz), covering 213,564 square kilometers (82,458 ...

in the north, Guarayos Province in the north-west, Obispo Santistevan Province and Ignacio Warnes Province in the south-west, Andrés Ibáñez Province and Chiquitos Province in the south, and José Miguel de Velasco Province in the east.

Division

The province comprises six

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

which are further subdivided into cantons:

Population

The inhabitants of the Ñuflo de Chávez Province are mainly Chiquitos whose culture roots in the fusion of their ancient customs and the influence of the

Jesuit missionaries The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

. During the 2001 census the ethnic composition of the population was as follows:obd.descentralizacion.gov.bo / Observatorio Bolivia Democrático (inactive site) The population of the province has increased by more than 100% over the recent two decades: *1992: 61,008 inhabitants (

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

) *2001: 93,997 inhabitants (

) *2005: 111,813 inhabitants (est.) *2024: 129,674 inhabitants (

) 48.3% of the population are younger than 15 years old. ''(1992)'' The

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

rate of the province is 94.3%. ''(2012)'' 87.3% of the population have no access to electricity, 50.4% have no sanitary facilities. ''(1992)'' 79.5% of the population are Catholics, 17.2% are Protestants. ''(1992)'' In 1992 91.6% of the population spoke Spanish, 30.1% Quechua, 2.0% Aymara and 1.2 spoke Guaraní. During the 2001 census Spanish was spoken by 79,377 people, Quechua by 20,763, Aymara by 1,362, Guarani by 1,002, other native languages by 3,619 and foreign languages by 5,617 people. The following table shows the number of speakers per municipality:

Economy

The principal economic activities are devoted to

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. Another important occupation is

handicraft A handicraft is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid material ...

like the fabrication of

hammock A hammock, from Spanish , borrowed from Taíno language, Taíno and Arawak language, Arawak , is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two or more points, used for swing (seat), swinging, sleeping, or Human relaxation, res ...

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

s, hats, bags and baskets.

Environment

Increased agricultural use of the land has led to deforestation in the area.

Gallery

File:Kerk Conception Exterieur.jpg, Concepción mission church (now the Immaculate Conception Cathedral) File:San Javier church.JPG, San Javier mission church

References

External links

Population data (Spanish)Mancomunidad de Municipios Chiquitanos
(Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nuflo De Chavez Province Provinces of Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia)